The data centers at the center of the AI boom are generating so much heat that they are raising the temperature of the land for miles around them by 16 degrees Fahrenheit, new research suggests. The effect is so pronounced that researchers say they create entire “heat islands”.
The findings, detailed in an upcoming peer-reviewed study, add up to a grim picture of the environmental impact of these sprawling buildings, the largest of which use enough energy to power entire cities. However, it seems that it is not the only data centers that heat the world around them.
The researchers focused on about 8,400 so-called “hyperscalers,” a term used to describe data centers of incredible size that offer cloud computing and AI services. Their construction has continued for the last decade, and the AI boom has pushed their demand and their size to the top; Meta’s new Hyperion data center, for example, cost $27 billion to build and has an expected computing capacity of five gigawatts, an appetite that would take ten gas-fired plants to run.
Since the temperature can be affected by other environmental factors, the researchers examined data centers in very remote areas. When they mapped their locations against the last 20 years of regional temperature data collected by satellites, a clear pattern emerged. Surface temperatures, meaning the temperature of the soil itself as opposed to the air or weather, increased by an average of 3.6 degrees after a data center went online in a given area – and in the most extreme cases, temperatures rose by an extraordinary 16 degrees.
The effects were local, but far reaching. The researchers found that the increase in temperature was felt up to 6.2 kilometers away – although they were further down – all affecting more than 340 million people. CNNNews shows that the trend is catching on around the world: Mexico’s growing data center Bajio has seen a 3.6-degree rise in the last 20 years, as has Aragon, Spain, itself a hot new hyperscaler center.
The study’s lead author, Andrea Marinoni, associate professor in the Earth Observation group at the University of Cambridge, said. CNN that information centers “can have a strong impact on society” in terms of the environment, human well-being and the economy.
Some experts were surprised but cautious about the findings. Ralph Hintemann, a senior researcher at the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, called the numbers “interesting” but “very high,” emphasizing the need to verify the results.
The heating process is also not immediately clear. “It would be useful to do further research to understand how the heat produced by the computer compares to the heat produced by the building itself,” said Chris Preist of the University of Bristol in the UK. Young Scientistsuggesting that sunlight hitting buildings can produce a heating effect. This is part of what well-documented researchers call the “urban heat island.”
However, among some commentators, the reaction temperature was too hot. Andy Masley, an author who tends to “debunk” claims of AI’s impact on the environment, called the paper “one of the worst articles and research on AI and the environment that I’ve read” in a long time, saying that the heating effect from sunlight hitting buildings was so strong that it would appear to come from the ground with satellite data. (Part of his test depends on feeding the paper to Claude, though, so make of that what you will.)
Whatever happens, it would be a mistake to forget the wider environmental impact.
“Regarding climate change, the impact of electricity generation for data services remains the most alarming,” Hintemann said. CNN.
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