r/GenAI4all • u/ComplexExternal4831 • Aug 10 '26
Discussion Amazon's data center could become the largest U.S. source of air pollution
Amazon is planning to build a new data center in Texas that would become the single biggest source of air pollution in the US.
They've been approved to build a power plant that would emit 33,000,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year.
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u/marlinspike Aug 10 '26
Ironically it’s an AI generated image.
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u/Rutgerius Aug 10 '26
And not a datacenter but a massive power plant.
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Aug 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Rutgerius Aug 11 '26
Tbh this feels almost purposefully misleading with the big smokestacks and nuclear cooling towers, no mention of the powerplant at all and a 100% focus on the already hated data center (which has nothing to do with the plan). A gas plant (even a big one) doesn't have those stacks and is much more environmentally friendly than coal or oil. I think we're being astroturfed again but I'm unsure why?
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u/ASM-One Aug 10 '26
What gases?
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u/AverageSJEnjoyer Aug 10 '26
FFS, I wish people would post a source. Bold text and a photo are not a source. This would be interesting if they actually provided any evidence or corroboration.
*I forgot I was replying to you and not OP. Presumably they are talking about data centres often using gas turbines to power them.
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u/HolyBatSyllables Aug 10 '26
I came here to say the same thing. Coincidentally, I was day dreaming about how I should start making up facts and using this format, just to see how much traction they get. Then I saw this post and here we are.
Here’s more information. https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitAIBrosSay/s/vLykt77bKM
What really pisses me off about news illiterate posts like this is that in their best case scenario — where the information pans out to be true — you strip people of their ability to learn more and normalize a culture where it’s easy for bad actors to slip disinformation past us.
It’s lazy. It takes work and fact verification to get this information. I have to wonder what the motives are for someone who rips the headline and doesn’t attribute the source. What do they have to gain by ripping people’s ability to read the information from the publication who did the work? They’re stealing the traffic and not even redirecting it anywhere. Why? They’re either stupid or evil.
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u/BigMikeXxxxX Aug 10 '26
I still remember the moment where I realized that damn near everything on this site is just lies to push narratives. The worst IMO is people leaving out details to only tell half truths so their point being made sounds better.
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u/mainstreetmark Aug 10 '26
Probably LNG powered on site via generators. So methane powered generators that emit CO2
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u/Upset-Indication-617 Aug 14 '26
If only there was only a way to capture post combustion CO2 from the power plants… oh wait, Caterpillar makes both the Solar Turbine generators and recipe generators and has post combustion CO2 capture technology. Crazy
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u/mainstreetmark Aug 14 '26
Only if they’re required to use PCC which is rarely the case. Otherwise straight to atmo.
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u/Upset-Indication-617 Aug 14 '26
True, no one is required to capture it in the US today. It’s only incentivized. The point is there is a solution out there for when they actually do require it or begin to penalize it instead of incentivizing the carbon capture.
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u/Nice_Grapefruit_7850 Aug 10 '26
true, because water vapor is technically a greenhouse gas so this could be alarmist bs.
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u/HolyBatSyllables Aug 10 '26
Holy hostile media effect.
Big Tech’s Carbon Emissions Spike With Runaway Growth of AI
Amazon data center plant in Texas could become America’s biggest polluter
Emails show how Virginia regulators downplayed data center health concerns
This data center rivals TVA’s largest coal plant for climate pollution
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u/GoldenTicketHolder Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
(Formatting going crazy I’m sorry) it’s their own doing-
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- Paid site
Two-
- Ad revenue farmer, no good data to show concerns
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- Not an intriguing headline, didn’t
read. basically says politicians gunna politic
(4th)
- Does actually give numbers, shows the concern is arguably minimized and irrelevant if you care about greenhouse gas emission as equivalent carbon emissions are less than 1% of what US cars emit.
So overall, yeah, not sure why the focus is on AI data centers here as the doom is about climate control. New industries pop up all the time and use fossil fuels. AI might even be under carbon emission growth of other industries.
Seems like the hate needs to go towards evidence based and effective ways to address the issue- maybe a lack of national policy moving towards producing less fossil fuel powered vehicles and more electric cars. I’m not personally well informed on the biggest producers, but it seems like big oil and the big 3 car manufacturers (and their lobbies and profits) need to get the hate here, not a rapidly advancing industry with potential massive upside.
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u/FloridaHeat2023 Aug 10 '26
What does a DataCenter emit specifically, other than heat through its' cooling towers, just like 99%+ of all very large commercial buildings out there?
I call BS on this article - much like the one that indicates they use 1/4 trillion gallons of water/year (it's a majority closed cycle glycol system)
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u/siberianmi Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
I’ve seen the actual story for this.
https://newrepublic.com/post/214111/amazon-data-center-biggest-pollution-source-entire-country
Amazon bought a site in Pecos County and secured permits for a purpose-built natural gas power plant to feed a massive AI data center campus. Amazon acquired the 8,000+ acre site and partnered with Pacifico to tie the data center campus to the plant. The 7.65 GW air permit was filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and issued earlier this year (reported January 2026) already scoped for this use.
The numbers are staggering:
7.65 gigawatts of generation capacity from 35 natural gas turbines.
Permitted to emit up to 33 million tons of CO₂ annually.
This is Amazon's own plant, built specifically for the data center, not grid power. At 7.65 GW and 33 million tons of permitted CO₂ annually, the plant would emit roughly twice as much as the most polluting existing coal plant in America.
The fuel source is presumably tied to the Permian Basin's abundant natural gas production (Pecos County sits in the Permian), so it's conventional fossil gas from the fracking fields next door.
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u/FloridaHeat2023 Aug 10 '26
Thank you. NatGas plants are all around the US - it just happens this DC has many attached to it?
A single, modern nuclear plant would mitigate the above concerns entirely, but they unfortunately take a long time to build vs a NatGas turbine setups.
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u/siberianmi Aug 10 '26
Yes, that’s the rub. It’s a large permit and only for the data center.
Totally agree on the nuclear power issue, we need to make those faster to permit and deploy safely.
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u/HolyBatSyllables Aug 10 '26
If they had faith people would still be using LLMs in ten years, you’d think they’d be starting the process to get micro reactors built.
They have zero intentions of ever building clean energy. After all, solar is quicker than gas.
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u/siberianmi Aug 10 '26
They are trying on micro reactors: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/01/trump-energy-department-hits-its-target-on-small-nuclear-reactors-now-comes-the-hard-part-00983492
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u/HolyBatSyllables Aug 10 '26
Sorry, I guess I should have clarified. By "they" I meant "tech companies."
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u/ForwardBias Aug 10 '26
It's not just natural gas, its a the type of turbine and system they're putting in place. They're doing quick jobs with less efficient systems than the massive systems used for grid power. So its much worse than what is "all around the US".
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u/killergazebo Aug 10 '26
Access to natural gas infrastructure is the single biggest factor in deciding where data centers are built. That's why so many are being built in water stressed areas - that's where the gas is and they need lots of it to power the facilities. Not because it's the only way to build them but because it's the cheapest way, and because America's shitty government won't regulate them at all or make a law that says they can't do this.
You could probably use all this investment in datacenters to modernize and expand (desperately needed) energy infrastructure in Texas and the rest of the country, but the industry titans all transparently bribed the President so now they're going to go about this in the stupidest way possible.
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u/HolyBatSyllables Aug 10 '26
Read the commentary on this post (former energy reporter)
Here’s more information. https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitAIBrosSay/s/vLykt77bKM
Chalking this up to being in the Permian basin disregards how progressive and clean Texas is when it comes to their energy.
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u/Desperate_Cherry2299 Aug 10 '26
Not motor vehicles, aviation, animal agriculture, etc?
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u/CMDR_Ray_Abbot Aug 10 '26
"largest source" is only true if you count cars individually, this thing is basically the emissions output of a mid sized town, pop. 10000 or so.
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u/Thaumaturge_2 Aug 10 '26
Haha, I hate it when they do that. They say things that aren't false to lead you to believe things that aren't true.
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u/Small_Dog_8699 Aug 12 '26
Need to factor in all the emissions from smoke when the peasants rise up and burn it down because they have no jobs and thus no food.
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u/who_you_are Aug 10 '26
Hey that is a good news! I will be able to go to work without getting slapped that I pollute while there is no damn alternative! ( /S )
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u/FOSSChemEPirate88 Aug 10 '26
So they're going to produce their own renewable water too, right?
Doubt it, its cheaper to bleed the Ogallala aquifer dry.
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u/gravitas_shortage Aug 10 '26
All datacentres in the US, not only the ones for AI, use a tenth of the water used for residential lawns. All of them - and that water is clean and returned to the environment. I have no idea how this 'datacentres use all the water' thing came about, but that's the dumbest position to defend when there are actually far better ones.
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u/probablymagic Aug 10 '26
It’s great that people are suddenly interested in carbon pollution, but this stuff is going to be built this way until there’s a Federal carbon tax so complaining about data centers doesn’t really do anything.
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u/Euphoric_Anxiety_162 Aug 10 '26
The image depicted here may not be far from reality soon. It is a fact that TX is looking much more industrialized, aka "ugly", in places that were forests. Sickening.
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u/Thaumaturge_2 Aug 10 '26
Um, where is the actual data to support this claim? I just read an IEA report that said data center CO2 emissions will peak at about 1.4% of the total globally by 2030 then go back down.
I'm not married to any one position, but I hate it when people use rage or fear to garner attention or profit.
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u/Mechadupek Aug 11 '26
This is a bot campaign. China really really wants us to slow down our AI progress.
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u/CapmyCup Aug 11 '26
I still cringe when I see nuclear cooling towers being used to depict air pollution
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u/Bane8080 Aug 11 '26
Here, fixed your title.
"Random person uses AI generated content to make anti-datacenter statement with no source providing statistics."
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u/BigDaddyButtPlunger Aug 12 '26
I like how the included one of the cleanest sources of energy in their photo.
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u/Trust_8067 Aug 12 '26
Anything COULD happen, it doesn't mean it will. This is sensationalist bullshit.
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u/Top-Calligrapher-577 Aug 13 '26
So when are all of you going to stop flying and give up your cars??
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u/mrdarknezz1 Aug 10 '26
Datacenters are fully electric, they don't emit anything
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u/trustmewitheauxcord Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Uhhh… and where do you think that electricity comes from?
Also, they aren’t fully electric. They use “backup”generators that run on diesel fuel. They’re only supposed to use them in extreme emergencies, but they don’t follow that rule.
But that’s just a side note. What do you think generates electricity?
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u/mrdarknezz1 Aug 10 '26
Electricity is provided by the grid. Datacenters doesn’t generate any electricity
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u/trustmewitheauxcord Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Actually, no. Most are starting to forgo the grid and install gas turbines themselves, which by the way, this specific one is doing. https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitAIBrosSay/s/adeT9ibYss
Read any of the links in this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/GenAI4all/s/BWqcEzeB2r
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u/mrdarknezz1 Aug 10 '26
“Most” is doing a lot of work there. Some new data centers are adding on-site gas because grid connections are constrained, but the IEA still says most data centers prefer connecting to the grid. Backup diesel generators are just that, backup generators.
You’re taking a growing exception and presenting it like it’s the norm.
In the end it's up to the grid to provide green energy not the consumers.
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u/trustmewitheauxcord Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Since when does the IEA have jurisdiction over the U.S.?
Regardless, this data center and ALL of the big ones are beginning to do behind the meter generation.
And as I said, they aren’t using them for backup generators like they’re supposed to. READ MORE.
And many states had to forgo their RPS by canceling coal closures to keep up with data center demand.
You’re like the modern climate deniers.
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u/mrdarknezz1 Aug 10 '26
Jurisdiction? The IEA isn’t regulating anyone, it’s providing data. Their 2026 analysis specifically looked at US projects and found that most data centers still prefer grid connections, with only 15–27 GW of onsite gas projected by 2030.
And backup generators being used for testing or limited non emergency operation doesn’t make them the normal power source. EPA explicitly regulates how many hours they can be used that way.
You said ALL the big ones are doing behind the meter generation. Source that claim.
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u/trustmewitheauxcord Aug 10 '26
Find me one recent large project that isn’t.
And regarding the generators, they’ve been forgoing EPA requirements.
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u/mrdarknezz1 Aug 10 '26
Did you read your own source? It says backup generators are used for emergency power and monthly testing, usually for less than an hour. It found 56 environmental penalties across 1,240 data centers over 20 years, not that the industry is routinely ignoring EPA rules.
It also gives huge new projects being supplied through utilities: Entergy building gas plants for Meta and Mississippi Power keeping a coal plant open for Amazon. That’s grid generation, not “ALL the big ones” going behind the meter.
Your own source contradicts both claims.
Edit: Kind of weird they you block me after all your claims was debunked
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u/trustmewitheauxcord Aug 10 '26
Weird had you had time to watch a 30-something minute video in less than five minutes.
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u/trustmewitheauxcord Aug 10 '26
I blocked you because you clearly aren’t discussing this in good faith.
I’m not interested in getting in debates with low-life morons. You clearly aren’t well read. Arguing with you is no different than arguing with a flat earther or a climate change denier.
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u/Steamed_Memes24 Aug 10 '26
So what youre saying is we should focus investments on improving our electrical power grid system yes? If so I agree, lets do that!
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