Gigawatt Ledger · one-page briefing
Campus profile Operating
Reno / Storey County cluster
Google · Apple · Switch · Vantage · Reno / McCarran, Nevada
The resource footprint
Modelled averageIn one day, this campus consumes about
3.1550-metre swimming pools
Filled with the volume of water consumed by the campus and its electricity supply.
The actual estimate2,080,749 US gallons consumed
Power-plant water may come from a different watershed. This is a volume comparison, not a claim that households lose this water.
At current operating capacity · Annual model spread evenly over time, not a live meter. Site estimates may differ by roughly ±40%.
Comparison sizes & sources
One pool = 50 × 25 × 2 metres = 2.5 million litres (about 660,430 US gallons). Pool depths vary; this is a defined comparison size.
One home-year = 10,791 kWh, the EIA’s 2022 average US residential electricity purchases. This excludes electricity generated at home and is a fixed US benchmark for all sites.
One car-year = 4.6 tonnes CO₂, the EPA’s typical passenger vehicle tailpipe estimate. The campus model is in CO₂e; the comparison expresses approximate climate scale, not equal mixtures of pollutants.
Monthly values are annual totals ÷ 12; daily values are annual totals ÷ 365. Actual demand varies. Comparisons cover the whole campus, including non-AI uses.
Water: see the numbers and sources
This is water used up, mainly through evaporation. Power-generation water may be used in a different watershed.
- Pressure on local water
- Extremely High — a regional measure of demand compared with available water
- Where the water comes from
- Municipal potable supply
- Cooling
- Predominantly air-cooled; desert siting rules out evaporative at scale
- Basis
- Fitted to a published figure of 110 million gallons a year
- Claimed vs observed
- Google Henderson, NV consumed 239.4 million gallons in 2025. This cluster row is fitted to 110 million, so treat it as a lower bound.
Air: see the numbers and sources
The totals include nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and fine particles. They cover both this site and the power plants supplying it.
- Health range
- $27.0–76.7 million a year. Lower bound is EASIUR national mid-range; upper is EPA benefit-per-ton at a ~$12M VSL.
- Statistical deaths
- 6.39 a year at that VSL — a national-average conversion from tons, not a local concentration study.
- Equals
- 810,388 cars of NOx
- Where it burns
- WECC Rockies — Utah / Nevada
- Generation mix
- Gas 42 · Coal 34 · Solar 12 · Geo 5
- Diesel backup
- Diesel backup is not yet counted for this campus, so on-site air figures are a floor.
- CO₂e
- 1,033 kt/yr — climate, not air quality
The project, approvals and community concerns
- Who asked for it
- Hyperscalers plus Tesla's adjacent Gigafactory load
- Who approved it
- Storey County TRIC zoning; NV Energy clean-transition tariffs — Google and Apple both left NV Energy's standard service to buy power directly
- What it serves
- Google Cloud us-west4, Apple services, wholesale colocation
- IT capacity
- 400 MW current capacity / 1,100 MW full-build scenario
Nevada's clean-transition tariff lets very large customers exit the utility and contract directly for renewables. It is the main mechanism US hyperscalers use to claim clean power without moving their buildings.
Keep this guide handy
39.4700°, -119.6000°
Quote or share these estimates
Gigawatt Ledger (2026). Reno / Storey County cluster: water and air. https://gigawatt-ledger.pages.dev/site/reno/. Modelled from disclosed capacity; site-level error ±40%.
Include the estimate’s date, whether it describes current or proposed capacity, and its uncertainty. Get an embeddable card.
Gigawatt Ledger · September 2026. Water and air figures are estimated from public records and disclosed capacity. How we calculate them · Use this in your community.