Quality of Life & Community Impacts

Communities where data centers are sited report myriad concerns related to quality of life, public health, land-use, and environmental justice.

Noise Pollution

There are several sources of noise pollution emitted by data centers, starting with construction and continuing throughout the life of the data center. The five main causes of noise in data centers include: air handling units, air-cooled chillers, cooling towers, server halls, and back-up diesel generators. In addition to contributing to noise pollution, back-up generators are also sources of air pollution.

Light Pollution

Data centers generate light pollution. Hyperscale facilities require all-night lighting that disrupts the natural circadian rhythms of the body, including melatonin production (the hormone that regulates sleep) and sleep-wake cycles. Light pollution also disturbs migration patterns and habitat development among birds, butterflies, bats, cats, turtles, and more.

Land Use

Data centers are built on sprawling campuses that take up a lot of space. Some of the largest data centers being built today will cover hundreds of acres with impermeable steel, concrete, and paved surfaces—land that will no longer be available for farmland, nature, or housing—and require new transmission line corridors and other associated infrastructure as well. A project proposal in Joliet, Illinois that was approved in March 2026 will take up 795 acres, which is equivalent in size to roughly 600 football fields.

Environmental Injustice

Emerging analyses suggest that some data center siting patterns could compound long-standing environmental and economic challenges. A national review of roughly 700 data centers across the country found that nearly half are in census tracts with above-median environmental burdens, such as air pollution, park access, and water pollution, as measured by the Center for Disease Control’s Environmental Justice Index. Many data centers were located in areas with social vulnerability indicators, such as poverty and lower education levels.