The construction and maintenance of data centers to power AI exact a heavy environmental toll in the United States and around the world. 

AI has been in high demand and continues to grow exponentially. The current Trump administration’s agenda has further accelerated growth and demand. 

For example, data centers rely on high water use to cool the heat they generate, and larger data centers can use up to five million gallons (18.9 million L) of water a day, depleting water sources. Recently, the World Health Organization declared a global water emergency, stating that water use has increased so rapidly that it is making water inaccessible to billions of people who rely on it daily. Data centers also continue to rely on already-stretched-thin energy grids. Unfortunately, the main source of energy for the existing grids is fossil fuels. This is due to the lack of renewable energy infrastructure, the need to maintain federal government fiscal support, and/or the need to build to keep up with rapid data center construction.

Some proposed benefits of AI in the field of climate change include its use to look into historical weather patterns and its ability to predict extreme weather events faster and earlier than traditionally implemented machines. Another benefit could be the ability to monitor when oil and gas sites vent methane, a greenhouse gas that plays a significant role in accelerating climate change. Finally, a third benefit could be the monitoring of emissions through EMS or other emissions-monitoring systems in factories and at production sites across the United States. Many companies, such as GE and Honeywell, are implementing this as part of their corporate sustainability programs.

In my opinion, as someone who comes from the Great Lakes State of Michigan and has witnessed the impacts of data centers popping up around the state and unethically making use of some of the world’s largest freshwater sources, I do believe that AI is not worth the cost on the environment and our water resources. It is unsustainable, and although it can be fun and easy to simply ask a question of a search engine or an AI information generator, it is not worth what is currently happening to our natural world as we power it down with fossil fuels. We only have one planet, and it is not worth the cost of environmental degradation to search for a random question to “find out how many 14-inch pizzas could fill Lake Superior.”

Ultimately, I think our country is already decreasing its support for climate-forward projects such as wind power and geothermal energy, unlike most of the rest of the world. It is a disappointment to see this country continue to progress in its pursuit of fossil fuels while the majority of other countries around the world act to undo the damage we are accruing due to the current administration’s ignorance. I can only hope something will change in the direction of progress and not regress.

This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard United States Country Manager, Abby Carlson.