WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Experts point to data centers as harming both human and environmental health in the communities they operate, but what exactly makes them so unhealthy?
There is little information about the health and environmental impact of data centers themselves, and experts agree more research and studies are needed to clarify those specific effects. But experts do know the effects of various types of power that would keep a data center up and running at all times.
Many data centers depend on fossil fuels to operate, and the statistics and data that experts are pointing to cite existing research on the harmful effects of fossil fuels to the environment and public health.
The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune reached out to several data center and population health experts to learn more about how data centers affect the environment and people around them.
What are the human and environmental effects of fossil fuels?
The Daily Tribune first reported April 20 a legal notice had been filed the day prior to announce a May 4 public hearing would discuss a conditional use permit for a potential data center. After that Daily Tribune report, a group of Wisconsin Rapids citizens organized a public informational event held April 29, featuring a panel of speakers to discuss data centers, including comedian and journalist Charlie Berens, a Port Washington resident, a medical professional with Healthy Climate Wisconsin, a representative from the Wisconsin Farmers Union and a retired tech executive. The panel shared multiple concerns about data centers, including a rise in quick-moving projects with little transparency, many unknown factors, neighborhood disruption from long and loud construction projects, health and economic impacts and more.
At that event, Brittany Keyes, a physical therapist, spoke on behalf of Healthy Climate Wisconsin and talked about the human health impacts of data centers. In a video recorded for and played at the event, she said data centers bring significant risks to public health through air pollution, high energy levels, heat generated by the centers and other characteristics of data centers that could further negatively advance climate change. She said the rise in data centers are causing more heart attacks, more strokes, more diabetes and asthma cases, more asthma attacks and more problems in fetal development in pregnant women in the communities they operate in. She pointed to data centers leading to 600,000 more asthma diagnoses, hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and costing hundreds of billions of dollars in health care costs.
A two-pager from Healthy Climate Wisconsin called “Data Centers Harm Community Health” states air pollution from gas power plants contributes to increased rates of lung disease, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative conditions. The document states living in a zip code with a fuel-fired power plant increases hospitalization rates for asthma by 11%, respiratory infections by 15% and COPD rates by 17% over communities without.
Dr. Jonathan Patz, a professor of population health sciences at the UW School of Madison and Public Health, told a Daily Tribune reporter he has been in the process of examining the topic of data centers and their impact on health. He said artificial intelligence and data centers are not necessarily the problem on their own. The main risk and harm lies in how developers and operators provide electricity to power them. Patz said the concerns of air pollution and the exposure of fossil fuels are well known to cause respiratory problems like asthma, COPD, cancer, cardiovascular and other problems. Air pollution is a big driver of heart disease, as well, he said.
“If data centers are powered by dirty electricity sources like coal and gas, that will definitely lead to more problems,” Patz said.
What are other potential health effects of data centers?
Keyes said other health concerns center around the amount and source of energy used, noise pollution, water usage, potential chemicals and the increase in ground temperatures experienced around data centers.
In its two-pager, Healthy Climate Wisconsin states data centers can raise temperatures up to 16 degrees on the property, causing heat islands that could make extreme heat more dangerous for up to 6.2 miles from the data center site. Exposure to extreme temperatures can cause severe injury and death, the document stated, as well as exacerbate existing health conditions.
The Healthy Climate document also points to potential light and noise pollution that could emit from data center sites. According to Healthy Climate Wisconsin, most data centers emit between 50-98 adjusted decibels, typically ranging from noise levels of regular conversations to screaming in someone’s ear.
Healthy Climate Wisconsin also pointed to data centers’ use of water and potential concerns about PFAS contamination.
Patz said he would be interested to learn more about what cooling chemicals a data center project would use in its cooling system to determine if they could contain PFAS or otherwise be harmful. Most businesses, however, would not publicly share that proprietary information, he said.
What about the proposed data center project in Wisconsin Rapids?
While initial plans that call for hydroelectric power are encouraging in terms of public and environmental health, experts maintain concerns about the use of generators for backup power on site.
PNK Group, the developer considering the purchase of 208.95 acres of former paper mill land in Wisconsin Rapids and evaluating its suitability for data center redevelopment, plans to use hydroelectric power from Consolidated Water Power Company. It’s a state public utility regulated by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. According to a letter from PNK to the city as part of the application for a conditional use permit, Consolidated Water Power Company was originally designed to support a heavy industrial demand from all paper mill operations for more than a century. PNK plans to use power from Consolidated Water Power Company at the local distribution and substation level and the American Transmission Company at the regional bulk transmission level.
The Daily Tribune has repeatedly reached out to Billerud, the current operator of the converting mill remaining near the site and owner of subsidiary Consolidated Water Power Company for more details of the plan, whether it can reasonably support the proposed data center project and any comparisons to powering the paper mill at full operations. Shawn Hall, the director of communications for Billerud’s North America division, did not answer these questions from a Daily Tribune reporter and declined to provide a contact for Consolidated Water Power Company.
Hall did confirm that Consolidated Water Power Company is a regulated utility that would serve electrical demand on the former paper mill property. She further said any electrical demand at the site has no impact on the electrical demand or rates for Wisconsin Rapids residents, who are served by a different electrical utility. Wisconsin Rapids residents are served by the Water Works & Lighting Commission.
Scott Reigstad, with American Transmission Company, told a Daily Tribune reporter ATC moves electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s needed across the region. Consolidated Water Power Company is ATC’s direct customer, and the proposed coordination between the two entities is standard across the electric grid, helping ensure sufficient capacity is available to meet existing and new demand reliably, Reigstad said.
When presented with the initial PNK Group plans to use a hydroelectric dam, Patz said if the electricity primarily comes from an existing hydroelectric dam, it cuts many of his biggest concerns.
“I would say that’s an ideal situation with minimal health impacts,” Patz said, adding if backup power also came from renewable resources, it would be even better.
Anna Haensch, a research associate professor with the Data Science Institute and an associate director of the Digital Scholarship Hub, told a Daily Tribune reporter the social cost of data centers varies significantly depending on the mix of electricity. Haensch said large data centers would likely fall back on gas generators or fossil fuel peaker plants during moments of highest demand, and those options are not very clean.
The initial Wisconsin Rapids plans do not call to use solar, wind or other renewable options for backup power.
The application for a conditional use permit states each data center structure (five buildings in total) would be served by adjacent mechanical equipment and generators that will provide backup and auxiliary generation only. Each backup generator would be tested one or two times per month for no than 30 minutes each. Those plans also state the data center must have 48 hours reserve of fuel for the generators, saying all fuel storage would be in compliance with federal, state and local laws.
The application stated the amount of generators would depend on the type of chip used in the data center but could range from 18 to 24 generators with 3 megawatts capacity each.
When it comes to noise pollution and its effects, PNK Group addressed some concerns in its conditional use permit. The application stated generator noise could be between 75-80 decibels in an enclosure. The application listed a variety of noise suppression measures like tree screening, wall mitigation, generator enclosures, acoustic barriers and vibration isolation. The application stated all noise levels at the property line would comply with ordinances.
The conditional use permit documents also address anticipated water and sewer usage. PNK Group states it plans to initially fill an on-site closed-loop cooling system designed to minimize potable water consumption, claiming it would use substantially less water than the paper mill historically used. The documents also stated no chemicals would be discharged to the network, and that volumes discharged for chiller maintenance would be limited to a few hundred gallons per year.
The documents also state aside from the initial filling of the closed-loop cooling system, the project would use domestic city sewer and water only and would connect to the city’s municipal sewer and water system. The documents say the anticipated sewer discharge would be about the same as domestic water usage at about 10,000 gallons per day.
Can potential harm from data centers be mitigated?
While data centers powered by fossil fuels bring potential harm to the environment and public health, experts say there are ways to mitigate some of the biggest harms.
Patz said there are always risks of droughts and therefore less efficiency for hydroelectric power during those times, but Patz said he would love to see backup electricity depend on solar and wind power, citing as of 2019, renewable energy has become the cheapest way to get energy. He said technological advancements have allowed better energy storage so power can still be used even when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
Haensch said there are ways to lower social costs of data centers when it comes to the types of electricity used.
“Data centers that are powered by renewables like wind and solar aren’t going to have nearly as much greenhouse gas or particulate emissions as fossil fuel power plants,” Haensch said.
Patz said the best way to help mitigate the public health and environmental risk is to use renewable energy. If that doesn’t happen, he said there could be systems like action alerts and requiring people to stay indoors or wear masks to lower the physical harm to people, but those options are not desirable and offer significantly less protection.
Keyes said using advanced cooling technology could help reduce harm. She also advocated for stricter standards and mandated pollution reporting in her April presentation.
We need more information about data center impacts
Patz said it’s too early to fully determine the health effects that accrue from data centers, themselves.
Keyes also said more research is needed around data centers, especially long-term life cycle studies on their impacts.
The Healthy Climate Wisconsin document also stated that more information is needed.
“More research and transparency is needed to understand all the impacts to health,” it said.
Contact Caitlin at cshuda@usatodayco.com or follow her on Twitter @CaitlinShuda.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: What are possible data center health impacts and can they be reduced?
Reporting by Caitlin Shuda, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune / Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Caitlin Shuda, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune | USA TODAY Network
