Microsoft's zero-evaporation datacenter design target: WUE near zero with warm-water liquid cooling and dry heat rejection (>125M L/year avoided per facility, estimated)
~0 L/kWhforecast
| Value kind | forecast — Forecasts are time-bound outlooks, not specifications; test decisions across plausible scenarios. |
|---|---|
| Scope | A December 2024 design target, not a measured whole-site WUE. It depends on dry, non-evaporative heat rejection; a closed technology-cooling loop alone does not remove evaporative make-up water. Microsoft's first Fairwater facility in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, was fully operational on June 23, 2026, with over 90% of capacity on closed-loop liquid cooling; the remaining air-cooled servers use water on the hottest days. |
| As of | 2024-12 |
| Source | Microsoft, Sustainable by design (2024-12-09); Microsoft, Mount Pleasant first facility completion (2026-06-23); Microsoft, Inside the world's most powerful AI datacenter (2025-09-18) |
| Review | checking…review by 2027-04-14 · standard cadence |
| Recorded changes | last 2026-10-14 · 2 revisions tracked |
| Claim id | wue-achievable-with-closed-loop-dry-cooled-warm |
Where the guide uses it
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