Hidden Carbon Emissions from Data Center Surge
TL/DR –
Data centers, crucial for powering artificial intelligence, are contributing to environmental issues due to the large volume of carbon-intensive concrete required for their construction. According to environmental nonprofit RMI, if these facilities are built with traditional concrete, they could generate 1.9 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, equivalent to annual emissions from 415,000 gas-powered cars. To combat this, tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon are sourcing low-carbon concrete, with Amazon signing a low-carbon concrete pact and beginning to use low-carbon concrete in new data center constructions.
Low-Carbon Concrete in Demand as Data Center Construction Booms
The burgeoning expansion of data centers in the U.S., a necessity for powering artificial intelligence (AI), is poised to make the tech industry a major consumer of low-carbon concrete. The environmental impact of these centers starts even before they go live, thanks to the considerable concrete requirements for their construction.
The Environmental Cost of Data Centers
Before they’re switched on, data centers already contribute to environmental harm due to the sheer volume of concrete required for their construction. This is pertinent as the construction of multibillion-dollar facilities sweeps across the country from Texas to Wisconsin.
Estimations by environmental nonprofit RMI suggest that the projected data center expansion up to 2030 will require 2 million metric tons of cement, a key component of concrete. If traditional concrete is used for these projects, it could result in CO2 emissions equivalent to 1.9 million metric tons. This is comparable to the annual emissions from 415,000 gas-powered cars, points out Chandler Randol, a senior associate with RMI’s cement and concrete team.
According to Katherine Vaz Gomes, a decarbonization engineer at Carbon Direct, a climate advisory firm, the carbon emissions from concrete and steel constitute a significant portion of the emissions related to data center construction.
Gearing Towards Low-Carbon Concrete
As AI infrastructure proliferates and the construction of data centers accelerates, tech companies are increasingly investing in low-carbon concrete. This surge in data centers has presented a significant moment to evaluate and address the carbon impacts of concrete, observes Vaz Gomes.
Tech company Microsoft Corp has already made moves in this direction by striking a deal with low-carbon concrete producer Sublime Systems. This agreement, made last year, enables the tech company to purchase up to 622,500 metric tons of cement over a span of six to nine years. Melanie Nakagawa, Microsoft’s chief sustainability officer, highlights the importance of decarbonizing the built environment as demand for AI and cloud services grows.
Similarly, Amazon.com Inc. has also sealed a deal with startup Brimstone, a maker of low-carbon concrete. However, the specifics of how much concrete they will purchase has not been disclosed.
Industry Support and Challenges
Supporting the shift towards low-carbon concrete, tech companies such as Amazon, Meta Platforms Inc., and Prologis Inc. signed a low-carbon concrete pact in September called the Sustainable Concrete Buyers Alliance. This initiative, brought together by RMI and the Center for Green Market Activation, aims to reassure producers that they will find buyers for their low-carbon products.
Amazon, for example, has already begun using low-carbon concrete in data centers under construction in Virginia and Oregon. The company has also invested in startups like Brimstone and CarbonCure that produce low-carbon cement, reveals Chris Roe, Amazon’s director of worldwide carbon.
While the technology for low-carbon cement exists, the industry has not yet scaled to meet the impending demand, notes Christina Theodoridi, policy director for industry at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Partnerships between large tech companies and startups, she asserts, are essential to meet this demand.
However, this industry was set to receive $1.6 billion in support from the Inflation Reduction Act, but this funding was withdrawn by President Donald Trump last year. The fallout from these cuts has begun to affect the industry, as indicated by Sublime laying off 10% of its staff and pausing construction on its factory in Holyoke, Massachusetts, due to a loss of $87 million in government funding.
Green Building Materials: The Future of Data Centers
Data center operations are known to emit large amounts of carbon. These emissions can be mitigated over time as data centers become more efficient and rely more on clean energy. However, the embodied emissions associated with these centers can only be reduced by using green building materials.
According to Chris Magwood, a manager on RMI’s carbon pre-building team and embodied carbon team, to meet their climate targets, large tech companies will need to address the emissions related to concrete use in data center construction. Having aggressive and meaningful climate targets, they have recognized that the use of concrete in their data centers is a key driver for them.
—
Read More US Economic News