{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "revision": "iea-2025-v1",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-16",
  "scope": "All data centres worldwide, including AI and other computing. Cooling, energy supply and semiconductor manufacturing.",
  "shortScope": "All data centres · cooling + energy supply + chips",
  "source": {
    "id": "iea-energy-ai-2025",
    "title": "Energy and AI",
    "publisher": "International Energy Agency",
    "publicationYear": 2025,
    "url": "https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/de9dea13-b07d-42c5-a398-d1b3ae17d866/EnergyandAI.pdf#page=242",
    "locator": "Box 5.4 / Figure 5.27, printed pages 242–244; 2023 baseline shown in Figure 5.27",
    "license": "CC BY 4.0, as labelled in the report. Figures on this site are our original volume comparisons, not reproduced IEA artwork."
  },
  "years": {
    "2023": {"litres": 560000000000, "displayLitres": "560 billion", "kind": "estimate", "label": "2023 estimate", "receiptLabel": "2023 / IEA ESTIMATE", "approximate": true},
    "2030": {"litres": 1200000000000, "displayLitres": "1.2 trillion", "kind": "projection", "label": "2030 Base Case projection", "receiptLabel": "2030 / IEA BASE CASE PROJECTION", "approximate": true}
  },
  "comparisons": [
    {"id": "pools", "denominatorLitres": 2500000, "formula": "annual litres / (50 m × 25 m × 2 m × 1,000 L/m³)", "label": "pool-equivalents", "receiptLabel": "swimming pool-equivalents", "assumption": "An illustrative 50 × 25 × 2 m pool holds 2.5 million litres.", "caveat": "Equivalent volume. An illustrative pool size, not a count of actual pools or a standard for every competition pool."},
    {"id": "people", "denominatorLitres": 730, "formula": "annual litres / (2 L/person/day × 365 days)", "label": "person-years of drinking volume", "receiptLabel": "people × 2 L/day × one year", "assumption": "An illustrative 2 litres a day for 365 days: 730 litres per person-year.", "caveat": "Equivalent volume only. This does not mean the water was drinkable, available to supply people, or withheld from them. Not hydration advice."},
    {"id": "land", "denominatorLitres": 100000, "formula": "annual litres / (0.01 m × 10,000 m²/hectare × 1,000 L/m³)", "label": "hectares under a 10 mm layer", "receiptLabel": "hectares under one 10 mm layer", "assumption": "One hectare covered 10 mm deep holds 100,000 litres.", "caveat": "Geometry only. One shallow layer, not a growing season, crop yield or water actually available for irrigation."},
    {"id": "per-second", "denominatorSeconds": 31536000, "formula": "annual litres / (365 days × 24 hours × 60 minutes × 60 seconds)", "label": "litres per second, annual average", "receiptLabel": "litres per second · annual average", "assumption": "Annual litres spread evenly over a 365-day year.", "caveat": "An annual-average equivalent, not a live meter. The animation does not track water disappearing from Earth."}
  ],
  "exclusions": ["No AI-only total or per-query attribution", "No measured 2026 global total", "No 2040/2050 forecast", "No local water availability or harm score", "No withdrawal total substituted for consumption", "No literal drinking supply, crop yield or real-time depletion"],
  "reviewNotes": ["The 14 October 2026 IEA report has an unresolved summary/body exposure-share discrepancy. It is not used to replace this dated litres series.", "Source quantities are approximate. Derived comparisons remain approximate even where whole numbers are displayed."]
}