BOSTON — President Joe Biden’s administration is reported to be considering an executive order to fast-track the construction of data centers – and the power plants to fuel them. The action could allow data centers to exceed pollution limits, open federal lands to data center construction and give data centers priority access to available power supply over other consumers of the electric system.
Projected rates of change in U.S. data center electricity use are uncertain and vary widely — from a 31% increase from 2023 levels by 2030 to a massive 169% increase. Due to concerns from grid operators about rising electricity demand, driven in large part by energy-intensive computing needed for AI, a number of fossil fuel generating units have had delayed closures or been proposed to stay open longer.
Burning fossil fuels changes the climate more than any other human activity. 2024 is on track to be the hottest year on record. Global mean surface air temperature was 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial average this year to date.
Environment America Research & Policy Center’s Senior Director of the Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy, Johanna Neumann, issued the following statement:
“In the race to dominate AI, we can’t lose sight of the very real race to stop the pollution that’s warming our planet and harming our health.
“Even if AI turns out to be beneficial to society, new computing facilities need to be as energy and water efficient as possible and be powered solely with new renewable energy. Without those guardrails, AI’s insatiable thirst for energy risks crashing America’s efforts to get off dirty and dangerous fossil fuels.”
Steve Blackledge, senior director of conservation campaigns at Environment America Research & Policy Center, issued the following statement:
“We have to be thoughtful about any encroachment on America’s public lands if we are to protect nature and the beauty and serenity that it provides. Considering what we might lose, a rush to jam new data centers and power plants onto our public lands in these rural areas just doesn’t make sense.”
U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s Energy and Utilities Program Director, Abe Scarr issued the following statement:
“At best, this approach risks American families paying more for power and suffering the consequences of more health harming pollution from power plants. At worst, it leaves American families in the dark, while AI siphons up all the energy on the grid.
“While AI holds great promise, we shouldn’t heedlessly risk spiking utility bills, worse health, and poor energy reliability for what many consider to be a tech industry bubble.”
