Concerns heighten as data centers spread

Wisconsin lawmakers are taking steps to regulate the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers, a move spurred by growing concerns over the projects' potential strain on regional water resources and energy grids, particularly within the Fox Valley. Brad Spanbauer, Sustainability Director at UW-Oshkosh, emphasized that the environmental costs of these hyperscale AI data centers, which demand massive amounts of water for cooling and energy, outweigh their economic benefits. Spanbauer highlighted concerns that these developments could challenge the Great Lakes Compact's strict water-diversion rules, which limit water removal from the Great Lakes Basin, and expose a regulatory gap in managing high-volume water usage. The Wisconsin State Assembly responded by passing Assembly Bill 840 on January 20, with a 53-44 vote, authorizing the regulation of AI data centers across the state. Experts like Spanbauer also warned that the increased energy demands from these data centers, which can consume as much electricity as a city like Milwaukee, could exacerbate stress on Wisconsin's already strained grid, potentially leading to higher household energy bills and requiring more fossil fuel infrastructure. Andrew Kell, policy director at Renew Energy, pointed out that a single large-scale data center could use approximately four gigawatts of energy, a significant portion of Wisconsin's 17.4 gigawatts production. Gabriel Shapiro, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted that 90% of a data center's water use is indirectly linked to its electricity consumption, and that