Overview
- A Cambridge-led preprint mapped 20 years of satellite land-surface temperatures against more than 6,000 hyperscale data centers and found a clear jump in local heat after operations began.
- Average increases were about 2°C, with extreme spikes up to 9.1°C near some clusters, and the warming signal remained detectable up to roughly 10 km from a site.
- Consistent patterns appeared in known hubs such as Spain’s Aragón, Mexico’s Bajío, and parts of Brazil, indicating the effect across multiple regions rather than a single hotspot.
- The authors estimate over 340 million people already live within zones touched by these heat increases, raising risks for health, outdoor work, and home cooling during hot spells.
- The study is not yet peer-reviewed, outside experts say the highest figures may reflect land use and surface changes more than waste heat alone, and proposed responses include carbon-aware scheduling, heat-reuse hardware, and passive cooling technologies.