(2025, November 10th). AI Boom Leads To Increased Concerns of Environmental Impacts of Data Centers. KQED.
This article talks about the AI boom, which is causing more and more data centers to be built, which use a lot of electricity and water. The article goes over how there are rising concerns of Californians surrounding how this will become a bigger and bigger problem for the environment. People are also concerned that this will deplete local resources. There was also a bill that lawmakers tried to pass that would require data centers to report how much energy and water they use. While some of the bills passed, others did not. The water report bill was vetoed, but others did pass. Another interesting part of the article focused on how it is not necessary how much water is used, but more so when it is used. This is important because using lots of water in hot and dry places can put a lot of stress on the surrounding communities. The article’s main point was to talk about how this new technology is impacting the environment and how California is trying to balance this technology with planning for the future from an environmental lens.
From my perspective, AI is becoming a huge part of people’s lives and jobs, so it is super important to look at how this technology is impacting the environment. This article is important because if you don’t have the data to keep track of how much water is being used, it is hard to see how to mitigate this issue. I think that companies need to have more transparency with people regarding things that are impacting the environment.