# Environmental Burden of United States Data Centers in the Artificial Intelligence Era

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.09786 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.09786/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 14 Nov 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Irresponsible AI: big tech's influence on AI research and associated impacts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.03077/) (2025)
- [How Hyper-Datafication Impacts the Sustainability Costs in Frontier AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.00056/) (2026)
- [Spiking Neural Networks for SAR Interferometric Phase Unwrapping: A Theoretical Framework for Energy-Efficient Processing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.20782/) (2025)
- [Certificates without Electrons? Theory and Evidence on Impacts from AI-Driven Power Demand](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.00811/) (2026)
- [Collective creativity in hybrid societies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.02620/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The rapid proliferation of data centers in the US - driven partly by the adoption of artificial intelligence - has set off alarm bells about the industry's environmental impact. We compiled detailed information on 2,132 US data centers operating between September 2023 and August 2024 and determined their electricity consumption, electricity sources, and attributable CO2e emissions. Our findings reveal that data centers accounted for more than 4% of total US electricity consumption - with 56% derived from fossil fuels - generating more than 105 million tons of CO2e (2.18% of US emissions in 2023). Data centers' carbon intensity - the amount of CO2e emitted per unit of electricity consumed - exceeded the US average by 48%. Our data pipeline and visualization tools can be used to assess current and future environmental impacts of data centers.