Heat Waves Endanger Data Centers That Power AI
Hotter weather puts pressure on water resources and electricity generation that help keep data centers from overheating. Competition over water can lead to conflict with local communities, while power outages can disrupt businesses. Both outcomes can strain data center operations, according to new research from risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
'Data center operators are innovating solutions to increase resilience and offset sustainability concerns, but rising temperatures increase these challenges,' Capucine May, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, said in the report.
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The research comes as data centers boom to meet growing demands for artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Many are built to optimize water use and energy to withstand potential disruptions, the report said. But there could be challenges ahead as the pace of climate change quickens and as energy demand grows.
'Solutions are likely to come from a mixture of innovation and technological development, policy interventions and incentives, such as requiring concurrent renewable energy development, as well as responsible investment practices,' Olivia Dobson, director of resilience at Verisk Maplecroft, said in an email.
Yet in the U.S., the Trump administration is slashing clean energy incentives and arguing that more fossil fuel production is needed to support the growth of data centers for AI, which it is prioritizing. Fossil fuel emissions are the main cause of climate change.
One recent study argued that AI can be used to help power data centers with cleaner forms of energy, such as wind and solar.
Research shows that heat waves are expected to become more frequent and severe as climate change accelerates, adding to the strain on energy systems as demand spikes for power needed to run air conditioners and other cooling systems.
A recent heat wave in Europe drove power demand up 14 percent and led to power outages due to cooling problems at nuclear plants, according to Ember, a global energy think tank. Record-breaking global temperatures last year caused electricity demand to spike during certain months in the U.S., China and India — leading to a surge in coal power generation.
The new report looks at the top 100 data center hubs globally, located in areas such as Los Angeles; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Bangkok.
It found that 56 percent of those hubs would have to meet increasing cooling demands each year. In a scenario where countries fail to cut planet-warming emissions and global temperatures rise above 4 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial times, around two-thirds of data centers could be at high or very high risk by 2040. On average, those hubs could see an 83 percent increase in the number of days that trigger cooling requirements between 2030 and 2080, the research said.
In the next five years, more than half of the top data center cities could also have to grapple with water shortages. Water is a primary means of providing cooling. Cities facing the greatest risk are in the Middle East, such as Dubai and Istanbul. U.S. cities will also be at high or very high risk by 2030, the research said, pointing to Los Angeles, Denver and Phoenix.
It notes that energy demand is expected to grow in the next five years, as extreme heat challenges power transmission. 'The changing climate will increasingly impact aging power infrastructure even in currently 'low' risk markets,' the report said.
It has already happened.
A severe heat wave in 2022 knocked out data centers in London used by Google and Oracle, which attributed the outages to problems with their cooling systems, Bloomberg reported. A data center for the social media platform X succumbed to heat a few months later in California.
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