By Lauren Leffer
Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley lives up to its nickname. Vast, windowless buildings proliferate beside suburban neighborhoods, looming over cul-de-sacs. Dwelling among these imposing buildings—warehouses full of servers, the physical embodiment of the online world—feels like “living inside a computer,” says Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at the nonprofit Piedmont Environmental Council.
The area has been a hub for digital infrastructure for decades, but recently, development has exploded. In 2016 Loudoun County hosted 8.8 million square feet of data-center floor space. By 2020 that figure had more than doubled, and it has since doubled once again, with yet another doubling on the horizon.
Artificial intelligence is one major reason for the boom. The technology powers all sorts of online experiences, from programs that predict your search query to apps that identify birds. But some experts are especially concerned about the more recent growth of generative AI. These tools, which can write emails, conjure images, and compose music based on a user’s prompt, require intense computing power—and vast quantities of electricity. Experts warn that AI’s insatiable appetite could derail efforts to ditch fossil fuels and confront climate change. “Decarbonization is at risk,” says University of Chicago computer scientist Andrew A. Chien. “Progress is at risk.”
Loudoun County epitomizes these tensions. Power demand grew in the county by 340 percent between 2018 and 2023. To feed data centers, the regional grid operator plans to keep running coal plants in West Virginia and Maryland that were previously scheduled for retirement. Dominion Energy is building a natural gas plant 100 miles to the south for the same purpose, despite local opposition.
Generative AI requires tremendous energy because it churns through extraordinarily complex math. Every line of text from a chatbot requires billions of calculations, says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Writing a single email with ChatGPT can use as much energy as driving a two-ton electric vehicle half a mile, Ren says.
“AI is a fundamentally different computing paradigm,” Chien says. “It has this sort of limitless potential for growth that means you have to pay extra attention to it.” In 2022 data centers accounted for about 4.5 percent of U.S. energy demand. By 2030 that figure could reach 17 percent, due in large part to generative AI, per a Bloomberg analysis.