Apr 19, 2026
Along with wineries, equestrian farms and George Washington's estate, Virginia's known for being the data center capital of the country, with at least 665 facilities servicing major companies including Google, Amazon, Oracle and Meta (1).
It's a Vantage data center, however, in Loudoun County — dubbed "Data Center Alley" — that's raising particular concerns after a recent study by the Piedmont Environmental Council found that emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from its 51 diesel generators and eight natural gas turbines could lead to 3.4–6.5 premature deaths a year and result in almost $100 billion in "health-related damages" (2) per year. Premature deaths are projected to climb up to 33 over five years, and to almost 200 over 30 years, while the health costs could balloon to nearly $3 billion.
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"Scientific evidence links exposure to PM2.5 with a wide range of adverse health outcomes, including asthma exacerbation, respiratory and cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke and premature death," the study says. The analysis cautioned that "children, asthmatics and older adults with pre-existing heart and lung conditions" are among those at highest risk (3).
And it's not just those who live near the data center bearing the health risk. A 2025 Caltech/UC Riverside study found that air pollutants like PM2.5 "can travel hundreds of miles through a dispersion process" (4).
Inconvenient data
Vantage, for its part, defended its Virginia data center, noting that it "operates well below" state emissions limits, producing "significantly less pollution" than the maximum amounts allowed (5).
Still, the Caltech/UC Riverside study noted that "there is no absolutely safe exposure level" when it comes to PM2.5 particles, meaning "compliance with the national/regional air quality standards does not necessarily ensure the air is healthy" (6).
They also warned that large data centers can create air pollution "equivalent to driving a car for more than 10,000 round trips between Los Angeles and New York City," and that the expansion of data centers across the country could result in 1,300 premature deaths by 2028, with a public health cost of $20 billion.
The U.S. is home to roughly 43% of the world's data centers, with more than 4,000 facilities (7). Virginia, Texas and California alone house around 35% of all U.S. data centers. Many of them use natural gas as a primary source of power (8), as well as backup diesel generators that the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) says get tested "at least once a month" and, in non-emergency situations, operate for a total of about 50 hours a year (9).
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A large data center, however, could contain hundreds of generators "each roughly the size of a train car," according to the Better Data Center Project (10). The EESI added that, in the event of a power failure, there's no time limit for how long the generators can run.
In addition to air pollution, noise pollution from data centers also poses serious risks. Harvard Medicine reports that, aside from hearing damage, it may also "cause or exacerbate" cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cognition impairment, stress and mental health problems, childhood learning delays" and possibly even dementia, among other issues (11).
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How to protect yourself against data center health hazards
Counting on federal government intervention to address the harmful health impacts of data centers may prove futile, as the Environmental Protection Agency has pledged to support President Trump's desire for more data centers by "cutting overly burdensome red tape."
The best defense against data center pollutants is to rally communities, and politicians, to prevent them from being built in the first place. A successful resistance movement has already sprung up across the United States, with one tally showing 25 cancelled data center projects in 2025 (12).
For those looking to ensure good air quality in your home, the EPA is among those that recommend using air cleaners and filters throughout your home and in your furnace, to reduce pollutants in the house (13).
Air Oasis also suggests creating a "clean air sanctuary" in frequented living spaces like bedrooms, with strong ventilation systems, while also watching out for "increased congestion, headaches, fatigue or respiratory irritation" that may indicate pollution getting in (14).
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Others also suggest buying low cost air home quality sensors to monitor pollution levels, both for your own knowledge and also, on a community level, to "inform emission control and urban planning policies" (15).
Also, pushing local officials to insist on data centers using renewable sources and battery cells instead of diesel would mitigate some associated health hazards, according to a 2025 paper co-authored by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and China's Harbin Institute of Technology (16). They also advocated for mandatory, and transparent, public reports on pollution levels.
When it comes to noise pollution, soundproof curtains are one way to take immediate action in your home. However, the community of Chandler, Arizona, took it further, forcing new local laws that dictated noise levels for data centers.
One Chandler official recommended communities pushing for the use of noise-blocking walls and blankets at nearby data centers, as well as calling for building plans for the facilities that incorporate noise reduction into the design (17).
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Visual Capitalist (1),(7); Piedmont Environmental Council (2),(3); arXiv (4),(6); NBC Washington (5); Pew Research Center (8); Environmental and Energy Study Institute (9); Better Data Center Project (10); Harvard Medicine (11); Heatmap News (12); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (13); Air Oasis (14); National Center for Biotechnology Information (15); ScienceDirect (16); Prince William Times (17)
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Mike Crisolago is a Staff Reporter at Moneywise with more than 15 years of experience in the journalism industry as a writer, editor, content strategist and podcast host. His work has appeared in various Canadian print and digital publications including Zoomer magazine, Quill & Quire and Canadian Family, among others. He’s also served as a mentor to students in Centennial College’s journalism program.
