With the rapid growth of AI in many professional fields, there has been a surge in AI-powered gadgets. This revolution in technology will definitely make life easier with a lot of advancements; However, there is also a new environmental footprint. There are significant concerns related to increasing air pollution through emissions from power plants and diesel backup generators, which is a necessity to maintain stable power supply for the growing network of data centers and computer processing centers. These facilities are critical to AI operations and contribute rapidly to air pollution levels; Therefore, there is a need to develop innovative sustainable solutions to maintain environmental responsibility.
according to a Issued by University of CaliforniaThis air pollution is expected to result in 1,300 premature deaths per year in the United States by 2030. The total public health costs due to cancer, asthma, other diseases, and missed work and school days are approaching an estimated $20 billion per year.
Such are the findings of a study by UC Riverside and Caltech scientists published online this week. Yet, these human and financial costs are ignored by the tech industry.
“If you look at those sustainability reports from tech companies, they only focus on carbon emissions, and some of them include water, but there’s no mention of unhealthy air pollutants at all, and these pollutants are already are creating a burden on public health,” said Xiaoli Ren, UCR associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and corresponding author of the study.
The authors, including Caltech professor and computer scientist Adam Wierman, recommend that standards and methods be adopted that require technology companies to report their electricity consumption and the air pollution caused by backup generators.
They further recommend that communities most affected by air pollution from data processing center power generation should be fairly compensated by tech companies for the health burden.
The authors also found that air pollution resulting from AI disproportionately affects some low-income communities, partly due to proximity to power plants or backup generators at data processing centers. Additionally, pollution spreads at the county and state level, causing health impacts in far-flung communities, Ren said.
“Data centers pay local property taxes to the county where they operate,” Renn said. “But this health impact is not limited to just one small community. In fact, it spreads across the country, so those other places are not compensated at all.”
