Pennsylvania’s new data center is in the advanced stages of planning and will require the power to power 11 million homes, nearly twice the number of homes in the state.
Companies looking to build data centers to expand cloud and artificial intelligence computing are drawn to Pennsylvania because of its proximity to major East Coast cities, relatively cheap land and power, and traditional industrial infrastructure. For example, there is a plan to convert an abandoned steel mill in Pittsburgh into a high-density data center that can leverage existing power and water infrastructure.
If all the data centers planned in advance are completed, the total power generation capacity will reach approximately 13 gigawatts.
As more data centers are proposed across the state, residents and policymakers are asking important questions: How much energy and water will these data centers use? What steps can be taken to manage their environmental footprint?
As a professor of architectural engineering at Penn State, my research focuses on the optimal design and control of data center cooling systems. I know that the key to minimizing negative impacts in the data center is cooling.
Data centers generate a lot of heat
Every bit of power consumed by a data center is converted into heat, which must be removed and released into the environment. Cooling systems, including chillers and cooling towers, are mission-critical infrastructure.
Without effective cooling, computing device temperatures will quickly rise to damaging levels, forcing systems to shut down. In November 2025, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange suffered a severe power outage due to a data center cooling system failure. It halted trading for several hours.
According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data centers currently account for approximately 4.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption, which is expected to rise to 6.7% to 12.0% by 2028.
They also consumed nearly 211 billion gallons of water in 2023, much of it indirect and related to electricity generation. Within individual facilities, refrigeration alone accounts for approximately 40% of total electricity consumption
The cooling efficiency of Pennsylvania data centers has a significant impact on energy consumption, water needs and community impact.
Cooling Challenge
AI workloads require large amounts of computing power and therefore generate more heat that must be removed.
Traditional air cooling systems rely on powerful fans and mechanical coolers, both of which consume large amounts of electricity.
During Pennsylvania’s hot and humid summers, data center cooling energy needs can rise dramatically. Increased demand for electricity requires costly infrastructure upgrades, with costs often shared among all users, including residents, raising concerns about equity.
Water is another issue. Many large facilities use evaporative cooling towers, which consume millions of gallons of water every day. This can be frustrating for local communities in areas facing periodic droughts or stressed water supplies.
Noise is a third issue that is often overlooked. Most complaints from people living near data centers are not about servers but about cooling systems. Large cooling tower fans, rooftop air handling units, and dry coolers produce constant low-frequency noise. Coolers and compressors can increase vibration and hum. In a quiet country or suburban area – especially at night – this steady sound can travel an amazing distance.
Pennsylvania’s climate presents both challenges and opportunities for data center cooling. Cold winters can support energy-efficient cooling for part of the year. However, hot and humid summers limit the effectiveness of these natural cooling strategies.
At the same time, many of the proposed sites are close to traditional industrial infrastructure, including disused coal mines, which could enable innovative approaches.
Turn enthusiasm into opportunity
Improving cooling efficiency is a straightforward way to minimize the negative impact of your data center.
In a U.S. Department of Energy project that my team worked on, we demonstrated a 74% reduction in cooling energy consumption in a data center in Massachusetts. This is achieved through the use of digital twins of data centers. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real system. Using this digital twin, we were able to identify and fix different faults in the cooling system. We also use digital twins to optimize control set points based on data center workloads and weather conditions to meet cooling needs with less energy.
Additionally, further savings can be achieved by integrating digital twins with artificial intelligence, which can perform optimal cooling control with minimal human intervention. This concept—which I call “AI for sustainable AI”—aims to reduce the environmental impact of the systems driving the AI revolution. We are currently working with Alerify Data Center in Harrisburg to use this technology to reduce their cooling energy consumption.
Pennsylvania also has the potential to use abandoned mines across the state for geothermal cooling. One example is the Iron Mountain underground data center in western Pennsylvania, about an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh. The data center is located 220 feet underground in a former limestone mine. A stable and naturally cool underground environment (approximately 52 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius)) and an underground lake reduce reliance on traditional mechanical cooling.
Beyond efficiency, the reuse of waste heat can change the way we think about data centers. In Idaho, a startup is using waste heat from servers to support year-round food production in hydroponic greenhouses. In Paris, excess data center heat is warming a swimming pool used during the 2024 Olympics, and one of Meta’s data centers in Denmark supplies heat to a district heating network serving approximately 11,000 local homes. In Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Laboratory recovers heat from its high-performance computing systems to warm building spaces and melt snow.
There are also opportunities in food processing and aquaculture. In Norway, waste heat from data centers is used to heat water in land-based fish farms. Research shows that waste heat from data centers can also support the food drying process of coffee beans, fruits and vegetables.
To be economically viable, these solutions often require a constant heating demand located close to the data center, which in some cases may not be readily available.
Data centers are likely to play an increasingly important role in Pennsylvania’s economy. The question is not whether they will use energy and generate heat – they inevitably will. The question is whether we design them to simply release heat into the air and water, or design cooling systems to harness it for more sustainable uses.
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This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization that provides you with facts and trustworthy analysis to help you understand our complex world. Written by: Wang Dazuo, pennsylvania state university
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Dazuo Wang has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Pennsylvania State University. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. In addition to his academic roles at Penn State, he is the chief technology officer and co-founder of Glaciian Technologies Inc, a Penn State spin-out company. He also holds joint appointments at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rocky Mountain National Laboratory.
