Campaign
Indiana
Energy
Water
Data Center Build Out Creates Unprecedented Risk to Hoosiers
CAC calls on Indiana state lawmakers to end the subsidies, increase transparency, and protect Hoosier electric bills from the impacts of AI data centers.
Campaign Overview
Campaign Overview
Large AI data centers are coming to communities across Indiana, and many of them are hyperscaler data centers. Larger than traditional data centers and increasingly used to power artificial intelligence (AI), these giant, windowless warehouses are some of the most energy intensive facilities in the world and use significant amounts of water.
Data centers are essentially warehouses for computers and servers. They house many computer systems and equipment like servers to store, manage, and process large amounts of data. They are the physical locations of the “cloud.” Up until now, the types of applications that have relied on data centers have been things like streaming Netflix and Spotify, using Google Docs or Microsoft 365, scrolling social media, etc.
However, the AI data centers coming to communities in Indiana are a different beast. These are typically massive hyperscaler data centers being built by companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, primarily because they want to push the use of AI.
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Where Are AI Data Centers Being Proposed?
In Indiana, AI data centers have already been announced or are in the planning stage across the state. The largest is the Amazon data center campus coming to New Carlisle, but Microsoft, Google, and Meta have also announced AI data centers.
Risks for Hoosier utility bills and our environment
It will cost billions to meet the infrastructure needs of AI data centers, which could lead to skyrocketing energy costs for Hoosiers. People across Indiana are already struggling to afford utility service, especially as 3 out of Indiana’s 5 large electric utilities filed for huge rate hikes in 2024 (CenterPoint, Duke, and NIPSCO). In addition, if data centers close early, ratepayers could be stuck with massive increases to pick up the tab.
Indiana is already heavily reliant on fossil fuels to produce electricity, and energy guzzling AI data centers could make matters significantly worse. The enormous energy consumption of AI data centers can lead to staggering amounts of additional air and climate pollution. Utilities across the state are planning large expansions of natural gas power plants specifically to serve data centers, which generate large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane pollution that contribute to the climate crisis.
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