Fact Sheet on Data Centers

The Breathe Project has put out a terrific fact sheet on the environment & health impacts of fossil fuel powered data centers.  Check it out here (and the unformatted text is below, but it's much prettier on the PDF).

The Environmental and Health impacts of AI Data Centers on Communities

Residents of Allegheny County have the right to live without the risk of pollution and in a healthy

community. Our communities should use their land and air sheds for the best possible uses that

enhance the community where they live.

Community voices matter and should be factored into the process of decision-making.

Anyone proposing to build a data center needs to be transparent about its size, scale, location and power

source/type so that anyone impacted can weigh in about how the proposed facility will impact them. This level

of transparency is still missing and is a major source of skepticism about whether the community needs to

have such a facility.

1. 2. 3. 4. Health and Environmental Impacts Messaging/ Springdale AI Data Center Proposal

There are 3-Types of Data Centers: Diesel, Gas and solar.

Data Centers are commonly powered by diesel-field generators for operations and for backup energy during

times of high or peak power demand. Diesel Generators are noisy, highly polluting and exempt from Clean

Air Act regulations during “energy emergencies.” (6)

Diesel generators emit gases and fine particles (soot), including PM2.5, NOx, VOCs, CO, and hazardous air

pollutants. (1,2)

Data Centers Are Extremely Water-Intensive. The volume of water needed to cool the servers – at 70-80

degrees – can burden a region’s water supply. Cooling these facilities could consume 731–1,125 million

cubic meters of water every year by 2030—equal to the annual water use of 6–10 million U.S. households.

(1)

NOTE: Many stationary diesel generators (especially older Tier 2 or Tier 3 units) have NO particulate filtration,

a higher NOx output and less efficient combustion controls. Newer Tier 4 generators have lower emissions.

(More information on EPA’s Tier designation may be found here.)

• Allegheny County is a designated non-attainment region (out of compliance with the Clean Air Act) for fine

particles (PM 2.5) and needs to meet the 2024 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM 2.5.

Adding a new polluting facility to this community, parts of which are designated by the DEP as an

Environmental Justice area, will add further health harms to residents. People deserve to breathe healthy air,

not pollution from unhealthy emissions. (Breathe Project, 2024)

• The residents of Springdale Borough (3,400 population in 2020) currently have a pollution burden in the 98th

percentile according to the Pennsylvania DEP Enviro Screen. This means that the community ranks worse

than 98 percent of communities in the state and is one of most polluted places in the state for that specific

air-quality indicator. NOTE: The PennEnviroScreenTool is the official mapping/screening tool of PennsylvaniaDepartment of Environmental Protection (DEP). It “combines Pollution Burden and Population Characteristics

data” to identify EJ (Environmental Justice) areas. (PennEnviroScreenTool)

• Data Centers will emit exhaust pollution from gas turbines and diesel generators. It is important to have and

understand details on how the AI Data Center will be powered.

The Pollution from Gas-powered Turbines

• Nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) — (1,2, 5)

• Carbon monoxide (CO) — From incomplete combustion. Environmental Protection Agency+1

• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) — And other hydrocarbons may be emitted, depending on

combustion quality. Environmental Protection Agency+1

• Particulate matter (PM) — In many cases, natural-gas combustion produces far less PM than diesel or

coal combustion, but PM formation can happen indirectly (from NOₓ + VOCs forming secondary

particles, smog, etc.) under atmospheric chemistry. (Environmental Defense Fund)

• Greenhouse gases (CO₂ and potentially methane if leaks occur in the supply chain) — Natural

gas is primarily methane; burning it emits CO₂, and some methane can leak from supply

pipelines/storage. (1,2)

The Pollution from Diesel-Powered Generators

• Diesel generators create a complex mixture of soot and gases to nearby homes, cities, farms and other

places. Health concerns about diesel exhaust relate not only to cancer, but also to other health problems such

as lung and heart diseases. (2)

• Diesel backup generators on site commonly pose serious health risks to communities and people living

nearby and may emit high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulates.

• Soot particles can penetrate deeply into lungs and bloodstream. (Breathe Project, 2025)

• Short-term health effects may include eye, nose, throat irritation; coughing; shortness of breath; headaches;

nausea. A worsening of conditions may lead to asthma attacks, bronchitis, reduced lung function,

cardiovascular issues. (3,4,5)

• Longer term risks include increased risk of chronic respiratory disease and lung cancer. (3,4,5)

• Cardiovascular risks including higher risk of heart disease and heart attacks. (3,4,5)

• Elevated ambient diesel pollution near data centers that frequently run generators. (3,4)

• Vulnerable populations (children, elderly, those with asthma or heart disease) face greater risk. (4)

• Pollution will further harm the health of environmental justice communities. (4,5)

• By 2030, AI Data Centers Could Add 24–44 million tons of CO2e (equivalents).At the current rate of growth,

AI data centers may make climate change worse by releasing the equivalent emissions of 5–10 million

additional cars on America’s roads each year. (1)

Questions Residents Should Ask

The Springdale community has been burdened by pollution for generations. Alternative plans for

community land should be decided with feedback from community voices.• Will this be a gas-powered data center, diesel powered or something else? How many turbines or generators

will this project have? What type (EPA Tier Designation) are they? How often will they run?

• What emissions controls will be used?

• Will air-quality monitoring be conducted? Purple Air Monitors around the perimeter of the data center?

• What health or environmental impact assessments will be conducted?

• Municipalities should try to avoid curative amendment/substantive validity challenges that may result in the

municipality losing control over the siting of these highly impactful uses. To assist this, PennFuture has created

a model data center ordinance to help municipalities start these conversations and create protect ordinances

for data center development. (PennFuture)

• Examples of successful ordinances can also be found in Penn Township, Westmoreland County, Pa. and

Fayette County Ordinance Fayette County, Pa.

Data Centers and Pollution

Solar or wind with battery backup emits little to no pollution, which is a major benefit for people with

asthma, children, elderly and heart/lung conditions.

Natural gas (or fracked gas) generators are dirtier than solar and produce pollution that worsens

asthma and contributes to heart disease and smog.

Diesel-powered data centers are highly polluting with the most serious health risks: carcinogenic

diesel particulate matter, higher PM2.5, higher NOx.

SOURCES

1. Cornell University Report, “Roadmap’ shows the environmental impact of AI data center boom,”

and Nature Sustainability, (Study is based on a data center emissions in Virginia), November,

2025

Xiao, T., Nerini, F.F., Matthews, H.D. et al. Environmental impact and net-zero pathways for sustainable

artificial intelligence servers in the USA. Nat Sustain (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01681-y

2. Harvard Business Review, “Migrating the Public Health Impacts of Data Centers,” November 2025.

3. OSHA – Diesel Exhaust Overview

4. American Cancer Society – Diesel Exhaust and Cancer

5. EPA – Engine Exhaust from Natural Gas-Fired Engines

6. EPA – Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust

7. Union of Concerned Scientists – Diesel Engines and Public Health

8. Inside Climate News, “Data Centers’ Use of Diesel Generators for Backup Power is Commonplace

and Problematic,” Nov. 12, 2025.