United States
White Paper on Global Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impact (2024)
Environmental Regulations for Data Centers and AI Infrastructure
Clean Air Act (CAA) : Regulates emissions from stationary and mobile sources. Data centers are included under emissions regulations but are not specifically mentioned.
Clean Water Act (CWA) : Requires data centers to obtain permits (Section 402 NPDES) for discharging pollutants into water, setting discharge limits and monitoring requirements.
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) : Focuses on hazardous and non-hazardous waste management, including e-waste from data centers (Subtitle C).
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) : Manages hazardous waste site cleanups. Data centers must report any hazardous substance releases as per Section 102.
Endangered Species Act (ESA) : Requires environmental assessments for data center projects that could affect endangered species under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Energy Regulations
Energy Policy Act of 2005 : Promotes energy efficiency and sustainability for federal data centers (Sections 102, 107, 1253).
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 : Sets energy intensity reduction targets and mandates energy-efficient standards for federal buildings, aiming for 100% fossil fuel reduction by 2030.
Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) : Focuses on optimizing federal data centers through energy efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
National AI Research Resource Task Force Act of 2020 : Recommends sustainable AI development, with data centers required to meet energy efficiency standards.
Energy Star Program : Provides certification guidelines for energy-efficient data center operations, with performance metrics like Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and server power consumption thresholds.
Executive Orders
Executive Order 13834 (Efficient Federal Operations) : Encourages energy-efficient technologies and mandates reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Executive Order 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad) : Sets goals for a carbon-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050, impacting data center energy sourcing and emissions reporting.
Cite This Chapter
APA: Huang, J., Tong, S., Shi, H., Singh, P., Peng, Y., & Liu, D. (2024). White Paper on Global Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impact. Green AI Institute. https://www.greenai.institute/whitepaper/global-ai-environmental-impact
BibTeX:@misc{greenai2024_united_states,
title={United States},
author={Jerry Huang, Stela Tong, Hanyu Shi, Pratiyush Singh, Yixin Peng, Diqing Liu},
year={2024},
publisher={Green AI Institute},
url={https://www.greenai.institute/whitepaper/global-ai-environmental-impact/policy-regulatory/existing-policies/united-states.html}
}