Can data centers be cooled with urine? A beer brand asked the question out loud

Beverage brands Liquid Death and Garage Beer launched a satirical advertisement on 18 August 2026 in which former NFL player Jason Kelce urinates into a jar and sings about "endless gallons of pee" as an alternative to drinking water for cooling data centers. It is a marketing stunt, but the water appetite of AI infrastructure is a real and growing issue.

Kelce is a co-owner of Garage Beer, along with his brother Travis Kelce, who became the company's largest investor and co-operator in June 2024. The campaign was conceived by comedian Sabrina Jalees and executed by LD Death Machine, Liquid Death's in-house advertising agency. As a by-product, the campaign released a Mason jar-style cup for eighteen dollars, labelled "Data Center Coolant". It sold out quickly. The product page carries a disclaimer: it is illegal to send urine by post unless it is a medical specimen meeting specific packaging requirements.

The underlying message taps into widespread public discontent over the arrival of large data centers. A Gallup survey from May 2026 found that seven in ten Americans are opposed to the construction of AI data centers in their neighbourhood.

How much water do data centers consume

The water consumption of data centers is substantial. A mid-sized American data center uses approximately 300,000 gallons of water per day (around 1.1 million litres) for cooling. Large hyperscale or AI-focused facilities can consume up to five million gallons per day, equivalent to nearly nineteen million litres. Amazon used 2.5 billion gallons of water globally for data center cooling in 2025.

Water is used in data centers as a coolant because it dissipates heat efficiently. As AI models become more computationally intensive and workloads increase, so does the demand for cooling capacity. In regions facing water scarcity, this is fuelling resistance among both residents and policymakers.

What would technically go wrong with urine as a coolant

Human urine consists of 91 to 95 percent water, which makes the comparison with drinking water seem less absurd at first glance than it sounds. However, experts and Google's own AI overview tool indicate that using urine in cooling systems would cause serious damage to equipment. The remaining five to nine percent consists of minerals, salts and organic compounds. These precipitate in pipes and heat exchangers, causing corrosion. In addition, the bacteria present in urine form what is known as biosludge, a biological deposit that clogs cooling pipes and significantly reduces thermal efficiency.

In other words: the joke has a kernel of truth regarding the chemical composition of urine, but the practical consequences for infrastructure make it no serious option.

What the campaign does reveal

The advertisement is primarily a brand activation for two beverage companies seeking positioning with a broad audience that is sceptical of Big Tech. That said, the campaign does ignite a debate that is growing louder in Europe and the Netherlands as well.

Dutch municipalities and provinces are regularly under pressure from hyperscalers requiring large amounts of energy and cooling water. In the Amsterdam metropolitan region, local authorities have already introduced restrictive measures for new data centers on several occasions, partly due to pressure on the electricity grid and spatial planning. The water dimension receives less attention in the Dutch debate, but is also relevant here during dry summers.

For investors and founders active in AI infrastructure or related cooling technology, the widespread public discontent presents opportunities: alternatives to water cooling, such as air cooling, immersion cooling or the reuse of residual heat, are high on the agenda of both data center operators and policymakers. The marketing stunt by Liquid Death and Garage Beer is a joke, but the search for more sustainable cooling solutions is not.