Cleaner Tech
The Data Center Surge Has a Hidden Source of Carbon Emissions
Tech companies are turning to green concrete to help reduce the massive environmental footprint of building out data centers.
A data center under construction.
Photographer: Kyle Grillot/BloombergData centers siphon huge amounts of energy to power artificial intelligence. But their environmental footprint starts to balloon even before the first server switches on due to the immense amount of carbon-intensive concrete needed to build them.
As the US data center buildout surges, with construction beginning on multibillion-dollar facilities from Texas to Wisconsin, tech companies are becoming buyers of low-carbon concrete.