Data center growth fuels fossil fuel reliance, jeopardizing renewable energy goals and costing $5.7 billion-$9.2 billion annually in air pollution-related health impacts, according to a Business Insider investigation. This surge in energy demand, driven by factors like generative AI, is causing utilities to prioritize fossil fuels over cleaner alternatives, impacting already polluted communities
Data center energy consumption surges as generative AI explodes, forcing reliance on fossil fuels. The rapid growth of data centers, fueled by Big Tech's AI investments, is outpacing renewable energy capacity. Utilities cite cheaper, more reliable fossil fuels as the solution to power this ever-increasing demand, raising serious environmental and public health concerns
US data center construction exploded in 2024, with permits filed for 1,240 facilities — a fourfold increase since 2010. This massive surge in electricity demand, comparable to levels unseen since World War II, is forcing utilities to rely on fossil fuels, jeopardizing renewable energy goals and resulting in estimated annual public health costs of $5.7 billion to $9.2 billion due to air pollution. This unprecedented growth threatens to overwhelm the grid, with projected annual energy consumption ranging from 149.6 to 239.3 terawatt-hours if all permitted facilities become operational
Data center energy consumption: A projected annual demand of 149.6 to 239.3 terawatt-hours—equivalent to Ohio's or nearly Florida's entire electricity needs—threatens renewable energy goals. A 2024 federal report predicts this high-end demand by 2026, exacerbating pollution in already burdened communities. This surge, fueled by the AI boom and a quadrupling of data center permits since 2010, is driving utilities to rely on fossil fuels, resulting in estimated annual public health costs of $5.7 billion to $9.2 billion
Data center energy consumption: Driven by consumer demand and the high cost of electricity, the tech industry faces pressure to increase energy efficiency. However, the booming data center sector, fueled by AI and increasing user needs, is straining power grids and hindering renewable energy goals, leading to significant reliance on fossil fuels and substantial environmental costs
Big Tech's Green Energy Pledges: Can Renewables Power the Data Center Boom? Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have invested billions in renewable energy projects (solar, wind) to power their data centers. However, the surging demand for data center electricity, fueled by AI and the rapid expansion of data center construction, is outpacing renewable energy capacity, forcing utilities to rely on fossil fuels and raising significant environmental and public health concerns
Despite advancements in computing, many massive data centers rely on polluting fossil fuels, exacerbating air pollution and undermining renewable energy goals, according to a Business Insider investigation
Data Center Boom's Shocking Health Cost: $5.7B-$9.2B Annual Public Health Burden. Business Insider analysis reveals that the surge in data center construction could cause 190,000-300,000 annual asthma cases and 370-595 premature deaths due to increased air pollution from fossil fuel reliance. This alarming public health crisis highlights the urgent need for renewable energy solutions in the data center industry
Business Insider's investigation reveals data center pollution costs between $5.7B and $9.2B annually. This analysis, informed by research from the Piedmont Environmental Council, utilized backup generator permit data from 1,240 US data centers to calculate potential pollutant emissions and power consumption. Learn more about our methodology
Business Insider analyzed permit data and expert electricity consumption estimates to determine data centers' contribution to power plant emissions. This investigation reveals the significant impact of the data center boom on renewable energy goals and public health
Business Insider calculated the substantial public health impact of data center emissions using an EPA tool. This analysis estimates annual costs ranging from $5.7 billion to $9.2 billion, encompassing premature deaths, respiratory illnesses like asthma, cardiovascular events, and lost productivity due to missed work and school. These costs are directly linked to the increased reliance on fossil fuels to power the booming data center industry
Amazon's massive data center network, comprising 177 facilities, is projected to consume a staggering 30 to 48 terawatt-hours of electricity annually—enough to power 3.6 million US homes. This energy demand, nearly double that of Microsoft's 44 data centers, highlights the burgeoning electricity needs of the Big Tech industry and its impact on renewable energy goals
Microsoft's reliance on fossil fuels stems from utility company practices, but the company commits to substantial investment in carbon-free electricity sources across all its operations
Amazon defends its renewable energy commitment while questioning Business Insider's methodology for estimating data center energy consumption and associated public health costs, citing oversimplification of complex operations and insufficient accounting for variations in data center design and operation
Data center energy consumption: Google, Meta, and QTS remained silent on Business Insider's inquiries regarding their power usage estimations, while Microsoft confirmed its data centers don't operate at full capacity. This lack of transparency highlights concerns over the booming data center industry's reliance on fossil fuels and its impact on renewable energy goals and public health
Data centers’ backup generators provide occasional emergency power and are tested monthly, usually for less than an hour. Permits show that these generators emit harmful air pollutants that can trigger asthma diagnoses, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations.
A report last year for the Virginia legislature said that in 2023, data center generators in the state emitted 7% of the pollutant totals allowed in their permits. Based on that, Business Insider estimated that if all existing and planned generators nationwide emitted at similar rates, they would collectively emit about 2,500 tons of nitrogen oxides a year. That’s equivalent to over 2 million passenger cars making round-trip drives between New York and California.
Using the EPA tool, Business Insider calculated that data center generators alone could trigger nearly 20,000 asthma symptom cases a year and cost $385 million in annual public health burden.
Spokespeople for Google and QTS said Business Insider’s generator emission methodology relied on assumptions that overstate backup generator use. Microsoft told Business Insider its backup generators run “significantly fewer hours per year than the industry-wide average used in the EPA estimates.” Amazon said further research was needed to validate Business Insider’s findings.
A representative from the Data Center Coalition, an industry interest group, said data centers were “actively evaluating alternatives that can provide similar reliability, fuel availability, siting flexibility, and workplace safety protections” as traditional, diesel-powered generators.
The amounts of individual pollutants emitted annually by different generator models vary. QTS estimated in one air permit that a facility’s generators would annually emit as low as 2% of permit limits for sulfur dioxide and as high as 32% of permit limits for nitrogen oxides.
More than 230 data centers nationwide — nearly one in five — are in communities already highly overburdened by environmental pollutants, according to a Business Insider analysis that mapped all 1,240 data center locations onto a separate EPA tool. The tool combines census demographic data with data on 13 tracked pollutants present within a mile radius.
Increased pollution burdens on these communities can have devastating effects: Children there are found to have asthma at higher rates. Mothers experience more preterm births.
Amazon has the most such data centers, with 29 locations in areas with extremely high pollution burdens.
Cogent, a rapidly expanding developer with 13 permitted centers by Business Insider’s count, sited nearly half of its facilities in overburdened communities; Google and QTS each located nearly one in five of their centers in overburdened communities.
An Amazon spokesperson said Business Insider’s analysis was based on a defunct tool, pointing to its removal from the EPA website under the Trump administration. QTS said its facilities were designed to meet international green building certification standards. Cogent and Google declined to comment on the specifics of Business Insider’s reporting.
By 2028, data centers are expected to account for at least 6.7% — and as much as 12% — of all electricity used in the United States, up from 4.4% in 2023 and less than 2% in 2018, according to the 2024 federal report. The US electricity grid sources 60% of its power from fossil-fuel-fired plants, per federal data.
To offset their impact, big data center developers are committing to invest heavily in renewable projects such as solar plants and wind farms, and funding the development of more nuclear power. Last year, Amazon invested more than $500 million to develop nuclear power with power purchase agreements in Virginia and Washington state, and Microsoft plans to purchase 100% of the power generated by Three Mile Island should regulators approve that shuttered nuclear plant’s revival.
In all, the amount of carbon-free power capacity that Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google contracted to use grew 69% in the 12 months that ended in February, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Big Tech companies also buy renewable energy certificates, which involve compensating someone else for each megawatt of electricity they deliver to the grid using renewable sources.
“Data center owners and operators stand out for their leadership and commitment to decarbonization through clean energy,” Aaron Tinjum, an energy policy official at the Data Center Coalition, told Virginia regulators last year.
At the same time, data centers’ demand is causing utilities and regulators to scrap planned renewable projects — and instead keep using coal power plants and building more natural gas power plants.
In 2024, Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest electricity utility company, told regulators that transitioning entirely to renewable electricity generation, as mandated by state law, was “infeasible” and instead proposed using increasing amounts of fossil-fuel-fired power alongside additional renewable energy sources to meet power demand driven primarily by data centers.
Aaron Ruby, a Dominion Energy spokesperson, told Business Insider that the utility’s proposals to meet historic power demand were compliant with state law and that the utility was still working to increase clean energy.
In Louisiana, Entergy, the state’s largest electricity utility, told regulators in late 2024 it would need to build three natural gas plants to serve power demands from a recently announced Meta data center.
Similarly, representatives of Mississippi Power told regulators early this year that data center demand would necessitate the continued use of the state’s largest coal power plant, previously scheduled to close in 2028. A single Amazon data center in Mississippi, once fully online, is expected to demand 2 to 3.3 terawatt-hours a year, according to Business Insider’s estimate. On average, that’s the same amount of electricity used by 240,000 US homes.
A Meta spokesperson told Business Insider that it had over 15 gigawatts of new renewable energy under contract. An Amazon spokesperson said the company was committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions across all operations by 2040.
Entergy and Southern Company, the parent of Georgia Power and Mississippi Power, didn’t respond to queries.
River ecologists and urban planners warn that even before data centers go online, their construction imperils habitats for vulnerable species.
Last year, an environmental impact report performed by Virginia’s Department of Housing and Community Development determined a proposed 11-building Amazon data center campus would permanently affect nearly 6 acres of wetlands.
An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider the company would conduct a wildlife management study and planned to explore opportunities to limit impact on wetlands and species of concern.
In 2022, the National Parks Conservation Association commissioned a report that estimated the construction-related soil erosion from two data centers set to be built in Virginia would cause up to 1,350 tons of sediment to be dumped into Quantico Creek, a Potomac River tributary, clogging fish gills and reducing their disease resistance. Sediment increase would risk changing the waterway itself, the report said, potentially disrupting habitats and harming amphibians, turtles, and other aquatic species.
The report also raised concerns about data centers’ discharge of massive amounts of contaminated water used for cooling. That discharge, the report said, would risk increasing concentrations of metals, petroleum-based chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides, which could cause deformities and sores in aquatic wildlife.
Business Insider identified 56 civil penalties totaling at least $1.4 million issued by state and federal environmental regulators to data centers across nine states over the past 20 years. These included violations of the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act resulting in fines of $100,000 or more.
CyrusOne and Equinix, which run so-called colocation data centers that lease computing power to other firms, top the list with seven and six penalties, respectively, followed by QTS with four and Amazon with three.
One of the biggest colocators, Digital Realty, engendered the largest dollar amount of penalties in Business Insider’s review. In 2018, a Virginia environmental inspector found nine unpermitted emergency generators at a Loudoun County Digital Realty data center. The inspector noted in an enforcement recommendation plan that data center developers “have an economic incentive to construct facilities quickly” and said that by installing generators without a permit, Digital Realty “made a business decision and enjoyed the economic benefit.” After additional violations for exceeding permitted generator limits and unauthorized generator use during peak pollution periods, the company eventually agreed to pay $317,913 in 2020 to resolve all violations. Digital Realty declined to comment on Business Insider’s reporting.
Meanwhile, water contamination risks persist. In 2023, a QTS data center in New Jersey’s industrial “Chemical Belt” paid $179,000 to settle claims of failing to adequately monitor pollutants discharged into Ambrose Brook. During the winter, the facility continuously releases water containing corrosive antibacterials, chemical descalers, and algaecides.
QTS settled with no admission of fault. A QTS spokesperson said the Piscataway data center was in full compliance with all monitoring requirements and the permit issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The spokesperson added that QTS addressed three other environmental regulation violations at data centers and was in full compliance with the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
The Amazon spokesperson said the company has a track record of complying with environmental regulations.
A spokesperson for CyrusOne told Business Insider it complies with environmental regulations and is committed to environmental responsibility. An Equinix spokesperson told Business Insider that in limited circumstances, the company hadn’t fully complied with requirements related to permitting, timing and tracking, and emissions, but that “we aggressively work to ensure that our facilities are in full compliance with all applicable regulations.”
About the data: Business Insider used air permits issued to data center backup generators to identify facility location and ownership, and estimate facility power use. We received permits from all but four states, plus Washington, DC. BI also used 2020 US census data and data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s COBRA, AVERT, and EJSCREEN tools. Read more about how we investigated the impact of data center growth here.
Reporting: Hannah Beckler, Dakin Campbell, Daniel Geiger, Rosemarie Ho, Narimes Parakul, Adam Rogers, Ellen Thomas
Editing: Jeffrey Cane, Rosalie Chan, Jason Dean, Esther Kaplan, Jake Swearingen
Research: Darren Ankrom, Schuyler Mitchell, Trey Strange, Yuheng Zhan
Design and visuals: Dan DeLorenzo, Isabel Fernandez-Pujol, Jinpeng Li, Kim Nguyen, Randy Yeip, Rebecca Zisser
Photography: Kendrick Brinson, John David-Richardson, Greg Kahn, Brian Palmer, Jesse Rieser
Video: Robert Leslie, Gary Moon, Marco Secci
Copy editing: Mark Abadi, Kevin Kaplan
Source: Original Article