{"688502":{"#nid":"688502","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Understanding the Data Center Building Boom ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWritten by: Anne Wainscott-Sargent\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs artificial intelligence (AI) drives explosive growth in data centers, communities across the U.S. are facing rising electricity costs, new industrial development, and mounting strain on an aging power grid.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt Georgia Tech, several faculty members are approaching these sustainability challenges from different but complementary angles: examining how data center policy affects local communities, modeling how AI-driven demand reshapes regional energy systems, and building tools that help the public understand the tradeoffs embedded in grid planning. Together, their work highlights how better data, thoughtful policy, and public engagement can guide more resilient and equitable decisions in an AI-powered future.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAI\u2019s Hidden Footprint: How Data Centers Reshape Communities\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAhmed Saeed studies the infrastructure most people never see. An assistant professor in the School of Computer Science and a Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS) Faculty Fellow, Saeed focuses on how data centers \u2014 the backbone of modern AI \u2014 are built, operated, and regulated, and what their growth means for host communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cData centers are the infrastructure for our digital life, so more of them are necessary to keep doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EData center energy consumption could double or triple by 2028, accounting for up to 12% of U.S. electricity use, according to a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/escholarship.org\/uc\/item\/32d6m0d1\u0022\u003Ereport by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u003C\/a\u003E. U.S. spending on data center construction jumped nearly 70% between May 2023 and May 2024, according to the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/americanedgeproject.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Americas-AI-Surge-Powering-Growth-in-Every-State.pdf\u0022\u003EAmerican Edge Project\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia is an AI data center hub, ranked fourth globally, with $4.6 billion in AI-related venture capital invested across 368 deals, the American Edge Project reported. At a recent \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/sustainability-fellowship-supports-professors-data-center-research\u0022\u003Etown hall in DeKalb County, Georgia\u003C\/a\u003E, Saeed helped residents connect AI\u2019s promise to its local consequences. Training large AI models can require tens of thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs) running for days or weeks, driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction. AI-focused chips, he noted, can consume 10 to 14 times more power than traditional processors.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat demand often shows up as pressure on local infrastructure. Communities are increasingly concerned about electricity and water use, grid upgrades, and who ultimately pays. In Virginia, Saeed pointed to a legal dispute in which consumer advocates warned that data centers could raise electricity bills by 5% in the short term and up to 50% over time, while utilities argued those investments were inevitable and could benefit customers in the long run.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEnvironmental concerns add another layer. Saeed cited controversies over water use and backup diesel generators in states, including Georgia and Tennessee, alongside a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruling that tightened generator regulations. While diesel generators are clearly harmful, he cautioned that long-term, rigorous evidence linking data centers to regional health impacts remains limited.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESaeed\u2019s research aims to reduce those impacts directly. By optimizing how workloads are scheduled across large server fleets, his team has demonstrated power savings of 4 \u2013 12%, a meaningful gain if U.S. data centers approach projected levels of up to 12% of national electricity use by 2028.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Saeed, data centers are akin to highways: essential to modern life, disruptive to nearby communities, and shaped by policy choices. The question, he argues, is not whether AI infrastructure should exist, but how transparently and fairly it is built.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEconomist Probes the Energy Costs of the AI Boom\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile headlines often frame AI as an energy crisis, Georgia Tech environmental and energy economist and BBISS Faculty Fellow Tony Harding is focused on measuring its real \u2014 and uneven \u2014 impacts. Harding, an assistant professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy, uses economic modeling to examine how AI adoption affects energy use, emissions, and local communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/1748-9326\/ae0e3b\u0022\u003Erecent work\u003C\/a\u003E published in \u003Cem\u003EEnvironmental Research Letters\u003C\/em\u003E, Harding and his co-author analyzed how productivity gains from AI could influence national energy demand. Their findings suggest that, at a macro level, AI-related activity may increase annual U.S. energy use by about 0.03% and CO\u2082 emissions by roughly 0.02%.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThose numbers are small in the context of the overall economy,\u201d Harding said. \u201cBut the impacts are highly uneven.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat unevenness is evident in where data centers are built. While Northern Virginia remains the country\u2019s top data center hub, with 343 operational data centers, states like Georgia, which currently has 94 operational data centers, are rapidly attracting facilities due to reliable power and favorable tax policies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHarding\u2019s latest research focuses on local effects, asking why data centers cluster in urban areas, how they influence housing markets, what happens to electricity prices, and whether they exacerbate water stress. Early evidence suggests large facilities can increase local electricity rates, contributing to public backlash and regulatory response. In Georgia, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psc.ga.gov\/site\/assets\/files\/8617\/media_advisory_data_centers_rule_1-23-2025.pdf\u0022\u003EPublic Service Commission\u003C\/a\u003E has begun requiring new, high power draw customers (like data centers) to cover more of the costs associated with grid expansion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHarding\u2019s goal is to give policymakers better evidence to design incentives and guardrails. \u201cTo manage these technologies responsibly,\u201d he said, \u201cwe need a clear picture of their intended and unintended consequences.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGamifying a Strained and Aging Power Grid\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDaniel Molzahn is tackling another side of the problem: how to modernize an aging power grid under growing demand. Electricity demand is expected to rise about 25% by 2030, driven by data centers, electric vehicles, and broadscale electrification. At the same time, much of the U.S. electricity grid is nearing the end of its lifespan, with many transformers being decades old.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo make these challenges tangible, Molzahn, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, developed a browser-based game with a group of students through Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vip.gatech.edu\/frm_display\/team-listings\/entry\/1303\/\u0022\u003EVertically Integrated Projects\u003C\/a\u003E program called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/currentcrisis.itch.io\/current-crisis\u0022\u003ECurrent Crisis\u003C\/a\u003E. Players take on the role of a utility decision-maker, balancing reliability, wildfire risk, renewable integration, and affordability.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe game grew out of Molzahn\u2019s National Science Foundation CAREER award and reflects his belief that complex systems are best understood experientially. Its initial focus is wildfire resilience, modeling how grid infrastructure can both spark and suffer damage from fires.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut resilience comes at a cost. Burying power lines, for example, reduces wildfire risk but dramatically increases expenses. Players must confront the same tradeoffs utilities face: improve reliability or keep rates low.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMolzahn hopes the game will help students and the public grapple with the realities of planning future power systems. \u201cThese choices aren\u2019t abstract,\u201d he said. \u201cThey shape affordability, resilience, and our path toward a cleaner grid.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project now involves nearly 40 students from across campus, supported by Sustainability NEXT funding and a collaboration with Jessica Roberts, former BBISS Faculty Fellow and director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tiles.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ETechnology-Integrated Learning Environments (TILES) Lab\u003C\/a\u003E in the School of Interactive Computing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs a learning scientist, I look at how to engage people with science and scientific data and get people having conversations they might not otherwise have,\u201d says Roberts, who hopes the seed grant helps the team determine first that they are going in the right direction and, second, how to broaden the impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne student, Stella Quinto Lima, a graduate research assistant in Human-Centered Computing, has made the game the focus of her doctoral thesis. Through the game, she wants players to notice their misconceptions about the power grid, energy use, and AI, and to use critical thinking to identify, question, and possibly undo those misconceptions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cI hope that we can really engage adults and help them see it\u2019s not black and white. The game is not only about power grids, but how AI affects the grid, how it affects our lives, and how it will impact our future.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team plans to expand the game\u2019s features, use it in outreach programs, and analyze player decisions as a source of data to study energy-system decision-making.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want to change the conversation about power and power grid stability, reliability, and sustainability, Roberts said, \u201cand find a way to get this message to a larger public.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs artificial intelligence (AI) drives explosive growth in data centers, communities across the U.S. are facing rising electricity costs, new industrial development, and mounting strain on an aging power grid.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Explosive data center growth requires research to inform policies which manage the building of this critical infrastructure."}],"uid":"27338","created_gmt":"2026-02-24 20:29:10","changed_gmt":"2026-02-25 16:43:42","author":"Brent Verrill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679428":{"id":"679428","type":"image","title":"Giarusso_Saeed_Molzhan_Headshots_Collage_Sized","body":null,"created":"1772037433","gmt_created":"2026-02-25 16:37:13","changed":"1772037615","gmt_changed":"2026-02-25 16:40:15","alt":"Three men\u0027s individual portrait-style photos are arranged side by side, each showing a person from the shoulders up. The individuals wear collared shirts and appear in different lighting settings, including a dark background, a neutral studio backdrop, and a bright white background.","file":{"fid":"263591","name":"Giarusso_Saeed_Molzhan_Headshots_Collage_Sized.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/02\/25\/Giarusso_Saeed_Molzhan_Headshots_Collage_Sized.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/02\/25\/Giarusso_Saeed_Molzhan_Headshots_Collage_Sized.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":872348,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/02\/25\/Giarusso_Saeed_Molzhan_Headshots_Collage_Sized.jpg?itok=TPizgOZr"}}},"media_ids":["679428"],"groups":[{"id":"244191","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"660398","name":"Sustainability Hub"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"194611","name":"State Impact"},{"id":"194836","name":"Sustainability"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188360","name":"go-bbiss"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"194566","name":"Sustainable Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrent Verrill\u003C\/a\u003E, Research Communications Program Manager, BBISS\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}