A new report from nonpartisan regional research group, Sightline Institute, complicates a growing narrative of data center demand for power undermining the region’s climate goals.
Sightline’s analysis finds that data centers’ climate impact in Washington has been modest to date, not yet enough to reverse the state’s forward march toward carbon-free electricity. Further, protections in the state’s laws shield the region from many, though not all, of the noxious outcomes data center corporations are causing throughout the United States.
Key Takeaways:
- Data centers consume 6 percent of Washington’s electricity; most analysts expect those numbers to rise quickly over the next several years. (Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, among others, all have data centers in the region.) Data centers have contributed to Oregon’s overall power demand rising 23 percent over the past decade, while Washington’s electricity consumption has dropped 4 percent over the same period.
- Emissions from electricity production in Washington have dropped in the past decade, though likely more slowly than they would have absent data centers. Most of the emissions’ impact from data centers is concentrated at just 6 of the Northwest’s 100-plus utilities.
- The Northwest’s policy safeguards prevent climate backsliding. For instance, most regional hydropower is protected for non-data center customers, and utilities cannot build new gas or coal fired power plants to serve data centers in either state.
- Still, if data centers’ usage projections materialize, utilities could delay shutting down one or more of the 17 gas plants in the area or burn more coal and gas in neighboring states with weaker environmental protections.
- Northwest policymakers can leverage tech companies’ energy appetite, strategic business interests, corporate climate commitments, and deep pockets to accelerate the broader economy’s transition to abundant clean energy, including by building out the electric grid and facilitating tech investment in clean energy resources.
