AI Data Centers Air Pollution Deaths: How Tech Boom is Killing Clean Air in US

Source: International Business Times, Singapore Edition
Published on: 2026-04-11 08:26

St. Louis, Missouri residents are fighting for the country's worst particulate pollution, the Trump administration's decision in February 2026 to roll back federal soot standards landed as a direct setback. The administration cited surging electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers as a justification for reversing Biden-era environmental protections The decision crystallized a tension building across the country for years. More than 4,000 data centers are already operational in the United States, with another 3,000 planned or under construction, according to Harvard University. Data center energy use has more than doubled, raising from 2% of national electricity consumption in 2018 to 4.4% by 2023, with projections from Clean Wisconsin, an environmental advocacy organization, placing that figure between 6.7% and 12% by 2028. The electricity infrastructure built over...

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