Virginia Tech
Summary
The unseen infrastructure powering artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t digital — it’s physical: massive data centers filled with thousands of computer servers. As the popularity of AI tools continues to grow, it has triggered a once-in-a-generation construction boom for larger and more powerful data centers. Now, the recently announced AI Action Plan is calling for even more infrastructure to power them.
Virginia Tech’s Landon Marston, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, explains what the rapid expansion of data centers could mean for our power grids, water supply, and communities.
What strategies could make data centers more sustainable?
According to Marston, there's a lot of innovation happening here:
- Improving efficiency. This being done by designing more energy-efficient AI chips, using advanced cooling methods like liquid cooling that is more efficient than air, and using AI to optimize the data center's own energy use
- Using clean energy. Tech companies are among the world's largest corporate buyers of renewable energy. They sign huge contracts, known as power purchase agreements, to fund new wind and solar farms to power their operations. There is also growing interest in next-generation clean power sources such as advanced geothermal and small modular nuclear reactors.
- Reusing heat. Instead of just venting the massive amount of heat they produce, some data centers in Europe are capturing it and using it to heat nearby homes and businesses, turning a waste product into a community resource.
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