Water has become one of the defining infrastructure issues in the age of AI. Communities want confidence that the technologies powering the next chapter of innovation won’t come at the expense of one of our most precious resources.
Before new infrastructure is built, communities ask important questions: Where will the power come from? Will it be clean? Will it be safe? How will it affect our electricity rates? What does it mean for our water?
Communities Care About Data Center Water Usage
Recent Gallup research found that nearly half of Americans worry “a great deal” about the environmental impacts of AI data centers. Bloom’s 2026 Data Center Power Report similarly identified water consumption as one of the leading issues developers believe will shape community support for new data center projects.
At Bloom, we’ve designed our technology with those concerns in mind.
Long before AI accelerated demand for power, we designed our fuel cell technology around a simple principle: reliable electricity should be clean and should place as little demand as possible on local water resources.
Fuel Cells Are Water Efficient by Design
Many conventional power technologies — including coal plants, gas turbines and diesel generators — generate electricity by burning fuel. That combustion process produces emissions, noise and heat that often require significant cooling.
Bloom’s fuel cells work differently.
Our fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical process rather than combustion. Instead of burning fuel to create heat that is then converted into electricity, Bloom converts that fuel directly into electrical energy. Bloom’s fuel cells result in significantly less water use than conventional power generation, cleaner air, and quieter operations.
That same design is also what makes Bloom’s approach to water fundamentally different. Bloom’s fuel cell systems require a one-time water fill during startup. After that, under normal operating conditions, the system operates without additional water because water produced during the electrochemical reaction is recycled back into the system. The result is a system that minimizes water use throughout its lifecycle.
Every Project Presents a Choice
Every AI project provides an opportunity to raise the standard. By choosing technologies that minimize impact on local communities, developers can ensure that the benefits of AI are matched by responsible infrastructure. We’re proud to partner with customers who share our values and are helping to demonstrate that innovation and stewardship can go hand in hand.
A Real-World Example
Our work in New Mexico on Project Jupiter brings that commitment to life. As part of our expanded partnership with Oracle, the campus will be powered by up to 2.45 GW of Bloom fuel cell capacity.
The project is designed so that neither Bloom’s fuel cells nor the data center’s closed-loop cooling systems require potable water for normal operations. Over a 15-year period, this data center’s average annual water use is expected to be comparable to that of approximately nine average U.S. households. Community drinking water will be limited to ordinary employee needs, not facility operations or maintenance.
We’re proud to work alongside Oracle and STACK Infrastructure on a project that demonstrates how AI infrastructure can be built with both performance and responsible resource stewardship in mind.
Communities shouldn’t have to choose between supporting AI and protecting their water resources. With thoughtful technology choices, they don’t have to: Bloom can design systems that not only earn trust through performance, but also through responsible stewardship of the communities in which they operate. That’s how lasting infrastructure and public confidence are built.
The insights, projections, and forward-looking statements contained here are for informational purposes only. These are based on assumptions and information currently available.
