At the front lines of the data center issue, Texas is generating massive discourse — some proclaiming the centers as gateways to utopia and others wanting them to never be built. In August, Gov. Greg Abbott paused the construction of data centers. The truth, as with most issues, falls somewhere in between.
“I think there are three main concerns people have about data centers right now,” chemical engineering professor Brian Korgel said.
Those concerns center around water, power and local disruption. In each, data centers have the potential for major challenges but also the possibility for regulation to combat them.
Firstly, water, a fundamental resource, is understandably a major concern.
“You have to worry about water needs for either dust control during construction or cooling during operation,” mechanical engineering professor Michael Webber said. “There’s a loop of coolant … that takes the heat away from the chip to an outside chiller … that outside cooling system could be air- or water-cooled. … Whether the data center is water intensive or not will depend on the technologies you choose.”
The choice of equipment and systems used by a data center is critical to its water usage — air-cooled or other innovative technologies are more sustainable.
Some data centers, like Meta in El Paso, pledge to be “water positive,” using as little water as possible and then investing in water resources and conservation in surrounding areas. Whether it’s using less water-intensive systems or pledging to be water positive, these methods can help ensure water availability.
Secondly, power usage is another major concern. The scale of data centers differentiates them from other facilities that use commercial power, and many may assume that data centers will be powered by local grids, which have historically expanded for commercial use.
“The peak demand at the University of Texas … is well under 50 megawatts; some of the data centers are (on a) gigawatt level … which is 20 times bigger,” said Ross Baldick, electrical and computer engineering professor. “The electricity industry … has been contributing to growing electricity demand. … But that growth is on the order of a cent or so every year. … That’s what’s motivated several of the developers of server farms … to build their own generation.”
As Baldick explained, self-generation, the creation of your own energy supply, can take several forms, including solar and wind farms, or in some instances, gas turbines. Some of these methods are more sustainable than others. Constant use of gas turbines would likely produce pollution through nitrous oxides and greenhouse gas emissions. Alternatively, turbines could become energy reserves.
“They may only be using the gas turbines very rarely, and you might argue then that the overall growth in demand due to them will facilitate more construction of solar and wind so that could lead to a greener grid overall,” Baldick said.
There is also the economic implication of AI companies being integrated into the grid. According to Webber, entities like Meta, Microsoft and Amazon have the funding and incentive to invest in improving local grids. Therefore, there may be potential benefits of data centers sourcing their power from the grid, connecting corporate wealth to critical infrastructure.
Lastly is the major concern of their impact on local communities. Backlash over noise pollution and rapid development has become apparent in locations where data centers are constructed. For most of these issues, there’s a solution.
“Try and put them far away from people,” energy law professor David Spence said.
Amid these concerns, it’s important not to overlook the optimism around data centers. Data centers can bring massive economic benefits and investment to local communities, and AI can help solve global issues. Webber explained how the development of a new cancer vaccine was being accelerated by AI’s understanding of mRNA.
Three outlining principles could minimize the damage and maximize the benefit of data centers: energy positive, water neutral and neighbor negative. Data centers should be energy positive by producing more energy than they take from the grid. This could ensure that data centers make the effort to develop their own sustainable power systems while still being able to engage and improve the grid. Water neutrality could be achieved by implementing cooling systems that minimize water usage and donating to conservation efforts to compensate for used water. Data centers can avoid disturbing communities by selecting locations that have no neighbors in the first place, constructing in unpopulated areas.
While not perfect, these guidelines can help establish data centers as non-invasive utilitarian pieces of infrastructure — building the future without destroying what is already here.
Stark is a chemical engineering sophomore from Orange County, California.