AI data centers, already harmful, appear to be creating their own microclimates |
FILE: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin.
As global temperatures rise, data centers for artificial intelligence are creating “heat islands” that could have significant impacts on communities and their surrounding environments in the years to come, a March 2026 study shows, raising alarm among international researchers.
The preprint of the study, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, looked at data from 2004 to 2024.
Article continues below this ad
Researchers from multiple institutions, including the University of Cambridge and Nanyang Technological University, used satellite data from that time to assess rising land surface temperatures at AI data centers worldwide. After conducting an analysis, they estimated that surrounding surface areas typically increase by an average of 2 degrees Celsius — or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit — once AI centers start operating, suggesting that the data center heat island effect “is real and significant, especially in the context of global........