Grundfos and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (China’s top ministry-based policy authority of data centre and ICT industry) have jointly published Green and resilient now: Report on fluid systems enabling water–energy coordination for computing infrastructure in the AI era.
As AI drives demand for higher-density computing, the industry must manage thermal performance, water and energy as an interconnected system. The report examines how fluid systems can strengthen this coordination, improving resource efficiency and operational resilience across computing infrastructure.
Advocate water-energy nexus
Cooling and heat-rejection methods involve trade-offs between energy and water use. Technology choices must therefore reflect climate conditions, computing-load density and local water availability, while considering both energy and water efficiency throughout planning, design and operation.
Fluid systems span the entire cooling chain, connecting chips, racks and coolant distribution units with piping, pumps, controls, cooling sources and heat-recovery systems. How heat is collected, transported, controlled, reused and rejected affects cooling efficiency, resource use and long-term system performance.
Through distributed demand-driven fluid distribution, intelligent pump coordination, closed-loop circulation, water-quality management and waste-heat recovery, fluid systems can better match cooling delivery with computing demand and enable stronger coordination across water, energy and heat.
The value, capabilities and key technologies of fluid systems
The report identifies four interconnected areas in which fluid systems can support greener computing infrastructure:
- More precise thermal management
- Greater energy efficiency
- More productive water use
- Stronger operational resilience
Delivering this value requires coordinated capabilities across three layers: architecture, equipment and platform. Within this framework, the report sets out seven key technology domains:
- Distributed demand-driven fluid distribution
- Leak-risk management
- Waste-heat recovery
- Intelligent pump coordination
- Multi-layer resilience
- Data-driven closed-loop control
- Lifecycle fluid management
Together, these capabilities connect system design, equipment operation and data-driven optimisation, providing a pathway from component-level efficiency to system-level performance and continuous improvement.
Towards greener and more resilient computing infrastructure
Drawing on applications in liquid cooling, intelligent pumping, water reuse, waste-heat recovery and existing-facility retrofits, the report shows how fluid systems are evolving from supporting components into an integrated, system-level capability.
By combining efficient pumping, intelligent control and system optimisation, fluid systems can help enable continued growth in computing capacity through more responsible use of water and energy.
Download the full reports
Explore how stronger water–energy nexus can shape greener, more resilient computing infrastructure for the AI era.