WUE (water usage effectiveness)
Beginner
A score for how much water a datacenter uses for each unit of electricity its computers use.
Novice
Annual on-site water use in liters divided by IT energy in kilowatt-hours. Evaporative cooling saves electricity but uses water, so low PUE and low WUE can pull in opposite directions.
Expert
Site WUE counts water used at the facility; source WUE adds water used to generate the electricity. The 2024 LBNL report estimated a U.S. average around 0.36 L/kWh (site).
Explained in Power and cooling (Systems).
See also: PUE (power usage effectiveness), Economizer (free cooling).