AI data centers
Are AI data centers bad for the environment?
The impact is real, but it is not one number. It comes down to two things we track: how a data center gets its power, and where it is built.
A data center's carbon comes from the electricity it uses. So a site on the local grid is only as clean as that grid, a site on its own solar or nuclear power is much cleaner, and a site on its own gas engines burns new fossil fuel.
The other big factor is the land it sits on.
The big country-wide numbers on this page come from outside research.
What we track is how each site we follow gets its power and where it is built, which is what really decides the answer.
Find out instantly when it changes.
There is no one answer, and any page that gives you one is not being honest. The truth is that a data center's impact comes down to two things, and we track both.
The first is power.
Computers turn electricity into work and heat, so a site's carbon is really the carbon of the electricity it uses.
A site on the local grid is exactly as clean or dirty as that grid.
A site on its own solar and batteries, or a nuclear deal, is much cleaner.
A site running its own gas engines is burning new fossil fuel instead of using the grid, and that is the biggest worry. The table below sorts every site we track by which of these it uses.
The second is land and water.
A site built on open land takes ground that was never built on. A site built on an old factory or industrial lot reuses land that was already used up, which is easier on the area.
Water is covered on its own page. Some sites use a lot, some almost none. We record the land and the water source for each site.
One thing we do not have is an exact carbon number for a single site.
The big numbers, like US data centers using about 4.4 percent of the country's electricity in 2023 and maybe 6.7 to 12 percent by 2028, come from a national lab, not from us. This page checks the things that decide the impact, and points to the research for the totals.
How the sites we track are powered and built
We track 3,975 AI data centers. For the 544 biggest campuses we record what really decides the impact: the power source and the land, site by site, plus 124 power and generation projects we follow.
What is claimed, and who says it
Each box says who the fact comes from. The last box is the honest limit of what we can answer.
Electricity use, growing fast
US data centers used about 4.4 percent of the country's electricity in 2023, and that could reach 6.7 to 12 percent by 2028, mostly because of AI.
That demand, and the carbon behind it, is the heart of the worry.
The number is from a national lab. We track the sites behind it.
Read the proof: LBNL (US DOE), Congressional Research Service
Carbon follows the power
A data center makes almost nothing at the building itself. Its carbon is really the carbon of the electricity it uses.
So the same building is dirty on a coal grid and clean on solar or nuclear.
That is why we sort the sites we track by their power, instead of giving one grade for the whole industry.
The causes, not the exact carbon
We track how each site is powered and where it is built, the two things that decide the impact, shown below.
We do not have an exact carbon number for a single site, and we do not claim one.
The big totals come from outside research.
Clean power: solar, storage, or nuclear
Runs mostly on its own solar and batteries, or a deal to buy nuclear power. This is the cleanest kind on our record.
9 tracked campuses
Grid power
Pulls power from the local grid, so it is as clean or dirty as that grid is.
429 tracked campuses
On-site gas
Runs on its own gas engines, which burn new fossil fuel instead of using the grid. This is the biggest carbon worry on our record.
18 tracked campuses
Mixed or other
A mix of sources, or a setup that does not fit one clean group.
88 tracked campuses
How we know this
The big electricity numbers here come from a US national lab, and the way water use works from a federal report. The power, grid, and land facts for each site come straight from that site's record on DEPLOY.
We check how each site is powered and where it is built, which is what decides the impact, and we point to the research for the big totals. We do not have an exact carbon number for a single site, and we do not claim one here.
Common questions
Do AI data centers produce a lot of carbon?
How much electricity do data centers use?
Are data centers destroying farmland?
Are AI data centers using renewable energy?
What is the biggest environmental concern with data centers?
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