Data center backup power contributes to health risks: report

A new report from the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit made up of former public officials, says federal rule changes are making it easier for data centers to run on-site backup generators with less oversight, adding to air pollution and health costs. The group estimates data center-related air pollution could raise healthcare costs by almost $21 billion by 2028, contributing to about 600,000 asthma cases and 1,300 premature deaths nationally. In Virginia alone, the report says on-site generator emissions at just 10% of permitted levels could cause 14,000 asthma symptom cases, 13 to 19 premature deaths, and $220 million to $300 million in yearly public-health costs.

The report points to several federal actions behind this. One EPA rule lets small and medium turbines stay on site for up to two years with far less monitoring and reporting, which the report says will let 89% more smog-forming nitrogen oxide into the air than under a stricter 2024 version that was scrapped. Another EPA letter allows backup generators to be used for utility demand-response programs (helping balance the grid), though this applies only within certain local utility areas, not larger regional grid operators. A Department of Energy order also let PJM, the regional grid operator covering much of the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, tap data center backup generators during a hot spell earlier this year, which the report says added pollution at times when heat and existing air quality problems already strain public health.

For homeowners, this is less about your own equipment and more about regional air quality, especially if you live near a data center or within PJM's territory, where these generators are increasingly used to prop up the grid during high-demand periods.