I’m trying to do some research about water and how it’s used in generating power.

So we all hear about how much water is used up by AI-generation prompts, Bitcoin farming, and– to some extent– any and all tasks that require electricity. And of course this is often quoted as a reason to limit or eliminate our use of these things.

But I realized I’d had fairly little knowledge of how this water was used, and how much of it was used for which things– and where it ends up afterwards (because, of course, most tasks that use water don’t permanently destroy the water).

And I’ve also recently had an article recommended to me that claimed using a cotton shopping bag was worse than any other type of bag, based solely on how much water was used in producing it.

And that seemed especially wrong– because water used in growing cotton would go right back into the natural water cycle afterwards, wouldn’t it? And while the cotton is growing, it’s performing the useful service of turning carbon dioxide into oxygen (though I’d guess there probably are better plants than cotton for this). Plus, the reusability and biodegradability of a cotton bag has to count for something, too.

Anyway, so far, I’m unsure what resources would be best for me to study this further, but I’ve been able to glean some basic info:

• Water used up in generating electricity is used for cooling in the power plant.
• If the electrical process also involves computing power, water may be used in cooling those servers too.
• Water used as a coolant is sometimes returned to the source (e.g. ocean) afterwards, but at a higher temperature, which can have harmful effects on aquatic life (and so can the process of sucking the water out of the source in the first place).
• The journey through a power plant can sometimes contaminate water with toxins as well.
• And also I guess while water is in use as coolant, it’s unavailable for other needs like drinking and growing food, which can make things worse in a drought.
• Some of these points may also be a problem with water used for a crop like cotton, but probably not as badly (pretty sure that water doesn’t go back into the water cycle all dangerously heated up, for instance).

So anyway, it’s a complicated topic and I’m trying to be at least a little more educated on it.