Data Centers Impact on Energy Demand

WHEREAS, Google, Microsoft, Meta and others are building data centers across the country that require a lot of electricity and water resources, and renewable energy sources often require additional permitting; and

WHEREAS, Indiana is one place where the early data center boom is having an impact on energy usage. An Indiana utility has estimated that the handful of data centers in the area will use more electricity by 2030 than all Hoosier households; and

WHEREAS, According to the University of Oxford as of the end of 2020, 597 hyperscale data centers were in operation (39% in the US, 10% in China, 6% Japan), up by almost 50% since 2015. Amazon, Google and Microsoft account for more than half of these and a further 219 are in various stages of planning; and

WHEREAS, The increase in demand for artificial intelligence impacts electricity rates and energy reliability; and

WHEREAS, Utilizing artificial intelligence systems with increased demand and few safeguards will exacerbate the climate crisis; and

WHEREAS, The construction of large data centers often creates additional greenhouse gas emissions and air quality issues; and

WHEREAS, The construction of these data centers is often in low-income and frontline communities without the promise of additional jobs past the construction of these centers; and

WHEREAS, The use of energy to generate a single, generative query from artificial intelligence can consume four to five times as much energy as a typical search engine request; and

WHEREAS, Opposition globally, as well as in the United States, regarding large data farms is starting to grow even as new projects are being approved and the opposition exists regarding the lack of certain tech company transparency regarding water usage and contamination; and

WHEREAS, According to TechTarget Energy data center production is highly reliant on water, which is why the spotlight is on data centers and their environmental impact. Data centers directly and indirectly consume vast amounts of electricity, heat, and water in a variety of ways; and

WHEREAS, Emerging technology can be a key component of helping to advance environmental and climate justice needs, but algorithmic impact assessments, mirrored after environmental impact assessments to share any environmental threats that a data center poses to communities, is an important transparency need; and

WHEREAS, The green economy must consider built environment as well as the digital industrial sector.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP advocates and demands community benefits agreements that require benefits regarding water scarcity and contamination and electricity high burdens community benefits plan and jobs, contracts and clean energy development agreements that will benefit Black people and their communities.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP urges Congress and state and local governments to pass legislation to demand transparency and standardized methodology regarding data and usage of water, energy, and emissions linked to data centers as well as a reduction of these resources.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that state and local governments create additional benchmarks for data centers for meaningful disclosure regarding environmental threats such as algorithmic impact assessments.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, the NAACP will advocate with our partner organizations for more intersectional conversations and community-led training and policy-decisions and demand a safeguard of community resources throughout the digital industrial usage of water, energy, and increase of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in communities.