Waste heat from data centers can boost air temperatures in downwind neighborhoods by as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit, researchers at Arizona State University report in a new study conducted in the Phoenix metro area, the hottest in the U.S.
Data centers went from the tens of megawatts range to the gigawatts range because they’re being stuffed with increasingly power hungry AI chips at great density, and they’re also building larger ones. Some of the planned data centers are going to crack 10 gigawatts each. The record electricity consumption rate for my entire country of ~1.3 million people is 1.6 gigawatts in the winter. That includes industry AND multiple non-AI data centers.
So now everyone else has to pay more for electricity in the affected communities, as the demand’s gone up. And water’s going to be scarcer. And they’re literally piping out hot steam at you in already hot areas, to the point that some neighborhoods might become unlivable due to the increased wet bulb temperature.
Luckily, yes, some of the bigger ones are planning on-site gas power plants (and a little bit of solar), but then you’re left asking yourself if more fossil fuel based generation is much better than just driving everyone’s fees up through the grid. It doesn’t drive our electricity costs up, but it’s still bad for the climate.
Data centers went from the tens of megawatts range to the gigawatts range because they’re being stuffed with increasingly power hungry AI chips at great density, and they’re also building larger ones. Some of the planned data centers are going to crack 10 gigawatts each. The record electricity consumption rate for my entire country of ~1.3 million people is 1.6 gigawatts in the winter. That includes industry AND multiple non-AI data centers.
So now everyone else has to pay more for electricity in the affected communities, as the demand’s gone up. And water’s going to be scarcer. And they’re literally piping out hot steam at you in already hot areas, to the point that some neighborhoods might become unlivable due to the increased wet bulb temperature.
Luckily, yes, some of the bigger ones are planning on-site gas power plants (and a little bit of solar), but then you’re left asking yourself if more fossil fuel based generation is much better than just driving everyone’s fees up through the grid. It doesn’t drive our electricity costs up, but it’s still bad for the climate.