Microsoft has launched a new initiative to lessen the environmental impact and resource strain of US data centres as AI drives construction across the globe.

The rise of AI has accelerated the drive for data centre construction, especially among major tech leaders looking to secure their AI supply chain. Still, data centres need more resources, namely energy and water, to power ravenous AI models.

Despite support from government officials to speed up the construction of these data centres, communities in the US have pushed backed due to rising concerns surrounding the environmental effects of these data centres.

Communities have documented the detrimental effect on water resources and air quality correlating to the construction of data centres in their community; others express their concerns regarding the rise in energy prices that could result from AI’s increased energy demand.

To combat fears, Microsoft has released a plan to address these concerns head on – the firm said that it would pay utility rates to a high enough degree to cover its power costs, and work with local utilities in order to increase energy supplies when needed.

It also said it would ensure it replenished more water than that consumed by its data centres, pledging to publish information on the water usage figures of each of its data centres in the US.

“Especially when tech companies are so profitable, it’s both unfair and politically unrealistic for our industry to ask the public to shoulder added electricity costs for AI,” Brad Smith, Microsoft ​Vice Chair and President said in a statement.

Recommended reading

• Data Centres Are the World’s Hottest Property Investment
• How Badly Will AI Data Centres Be Impacted By Power Shortages?
• Nearly Half of All Data Centres to Be Used for AI by 2030

Prior to the initiative launch, Microsoft changed plans to build a data centre in the US state of Wisconsin following push back from the local community. In the new announcement, Microsoft said that it would construct a facility that would prohibit data centre energy costs from affecting consumers.

The new plan also says that Microsoft will work with local communities to train residents to help build and maintain the data centres, as well as provide AI training to all affected communities.

The US President said prior to the announcement that big technology companies looking to build data centres “must ‘pay their own way'” in a post on social media, as voters express continued disillusionment with the economy and the rising cost of living ahead of midterm elections.