Most European data centers refuse to disclose energy and water use
What happened
On September 30, 2026, a study by the Lighthouse Report with European outlets including Trouw reported that most European data centers refuse to publish water and power consumption figures. Of 186 commercial data centers in the Netherlands with capacity above 500 kW, only 44 disclose electricity data and 47 disclose water data — under a quarter. The EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) requires data centers above 500 kW to report energy and water use, but three years after it took effect few companies comply.
Written by AI from the coverage · updated 2 hours ago
Coverage
Follow the reports to see the story from different sides.
- Hacker News front pageMost data centers refusing to say how much water, electricity they use
Lighthouse Report 与 Trouw 等欧洲媒体合作的一项研究显示，欧洲绝大多数数据中心拒绝公开其环境影响的耗水与耗电数据。荷兰 186 家容量 500 kW 以上的商业数据中心中，仅 44 家公开用电数据、47 家公开用水数据，不足四分之一；欧盟《能源效率指令》（EED）要求 500 kW 以上数据中心上报能耗与水耗，但该指令生效三年后仍少有企业遵守。
Heat over time
Not enough continuous observations to draw a trend yet.