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Ranked: U.S. States Building the Most Data Centers
Texas tops the U.S. data center pipeline with 962 total sites — operational, under construction and announced — narrowly ahead of Virginia's 954. Ranks 15 states using Aterio data from March 2026. Georgia's 340 announced projects represent more than five times its current operational count. Energy access drives where new facilities concentrate.
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Global data center expansion and human health: A call for empirical research
Researchers map the water-energy-carbon nexus of data center expansion, projecting nearly 1,300 U.S. air-pollution deaths per year by 2030 and a public health burden above $20 billion. Hyperscale facilities consume 3 to 7 million gallons of potable water daily for cooling, and diesel generators push on-site noise past 96 decibels.
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How Much Electricity Does a Data Center Use? Complete 2025 Analysis – IAEI Magazine
This comprehensive analysis details U.S. data center electricity consumption, which reached 176 TWh in 2023 (4.4% of total U.S. electricity) and could hit 325–580 TWh by 2028. The guide breaks down what drives this demand—including AI workloads requiring up to 10x more power than traditional computing—and documents how concentrated development strains local grids, raises rates…
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The AI Data Center Boom Is Driving Up Electricity Costs, Research Shows
Electricity costs are rising significantly in areas near data centers, with wholesale prices increasing by up to 267% over five years. Data centers, essential for cloud services and AI, are expected to double their electrical usage by 2035. The demand for energy is outpacing supply due to transmission constraints, prompting upgrades to aging infrastructure. Companies…
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Mitigating the Public Health Impacts of AI Data Centers
This Harvard Business Review article examines how the rapid expansion of AI data centers is creating significant public health consequences through air pollution, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The authors estimate respiratory-related health costs could reach $20 billion per year in the United States by 2028. Written by researchers from UC…
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Environmental impact and net-zero pathways for sustainable artificial intelligence servers in the USA
This peer-reviewed study models the combined energy, water, and carbon impacts of AI server deployment across the United States from 2024 to 2030. It projects annual water footprints of 731–1,125 million m³ and additional carbon emissions of 24–44 Mt CO₂-equivalent, finding that the AI industry is unlikely to meet net-zero goals by 2030 without substantial…
Exposing AI Data Center Threats and Harms