The Real Reason Data Center Gas Power Plants Are So Dirty
Amazon has acquired a massive off-grid power plant being built in Texas for one of its data centers that could be one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
But size isn’t the only reason its climate toll will be so high. The plant will rely on a much less efficient set of gas turbines than regular power plants use; these kinds of turbines are also increasingly being put to use at other data center projects around the US. That could have big implications for the environmental impact of artificial intelligence—and the future of the US grid.
Amazon’s Texas power plant is permitted to emit up to 33 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. The project will rely solely on simple cycle turbines, which mix fuel and air in a combustion chamber to create energy, letting off a significant amount of waste heat in...
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