By Willy Blackmoore, Word In Black
The rush to build gigantic data centers powering the nation’s AI boom, such as Elon Musk’s massive Colossus facility near Memphis, usually draws community pushback because they generate dangerous levels of air pollution. But a new study raises another environmental hazard: the huge amounts of energy data centers require are heating up nearby communities.
Researchers call it the data heat island effect.
It’s an apt name, considering how similar these temperature increases are to those caused by the urban heat island effect — a significant rise in temperatures in communities that lack shady, green spaces and have an abundance of heat-absorbent surfaces, like metal or asphalt.
And Black people are 52 percent more likely than whites to reside in such areas.
The data heat island study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, examined data centers in rural areas to determine whether those facilities caused increases in nearby surface temperatures.
Researchers analyzed 20 years of temperature data gathered from communities adjacent to 6,000 different data centers across the country. They concluded that the opening of a data center — the researcher focused on so-called AI “hyperscalers,” supersized facilities like Colossus — led to an average temperature increase of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. For some data centers, the temperature spike reached 16.4 degrees.
The heat island effect was apparent as far as 6.2 miles away from a data center.
Study coauthor Andrea Marinoni of the Earth Observation group at the University of Cambridge in England told CNN that the data heat island effect “could have dramatic impacts on society.”
The study analyzed surface temperature measurements, not outdoor ambient temperatures, which are generally lower even when it’s very hot outside. Think about the notion of frying an egg on the sidewalk: the air itself is hot, maybe in the 90s or triple digits, but the concrete is even hotter.
Still, heat radiating from surfaces — the urban heat island effect — increases daytime air temperatures by up to 7 degrees, according to the EPA.
Not only are Black people far more likely to live in urban heat islands, but extensive research shows the negative health impacts of increased heat exposure. Not only do urban heat islands increase the risk of heat-related illnesses and death, but also create conditions that decrease air quality.
If running an AI data center in a rural or sparsely populated community can increase heat in the surrounding area, that effect is likely compounded when the data center is in a highly industrialized urban area, such as Memphis.
And just like the emissions coming from the gas turbines that power the facility, it’s the Black people living nearby who bear the brunt of the impact.
This editorial was orginally in Word In Black.
