Environmental Costs of Data Centers

Every second of every day, day after day, large computers

in huge data centers process requests and sending

information on to phones or computers. It is like magic;

however, it comes with environmental cost at every step of

this process. Data centers use a tremendous amount of

electricity, need millions of gallons of water to keep cool

and add tons of emissions plus other pollutants into the air

— which add to climate change and impact health,

especially for communities around these data centers.

Data centers used 1.9% of total US electricity in 2018,

4.4% in 2023 and are projected to use 12% in 2028. In

2023, 66 billion liters of water were used by data centers

— triple the amount in 2013. Data centers contribute about

0.5 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. Health costs

are estimated to rise to $20 billion per year by 2030.

Earth Steward Action: Reduce your energy footprint. Stay

tuned for part 2 next week.

Source: AI Is Using Your Energy and Water—and

Polluting Your Air. Catalyst, vol. 25, fall 2025, pp. 16-17.

https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2025-10/Catalyst-

Fall-2025.pdf