24 Aug 2026 Data centres, rare earth minerals, and complacency
The impact of data centres on the environment concerns everyone. Data centres consume massive amounts of electricity – often placing considerable strain on local power grids. Data centres generate significant heat and electronic waste, and millions of gallons of water are needed daily to cool them. Land grabs for data centres are generating controversy.
Noise pollution is increasing. According to Net Zero Insights (29 April 2026), “The constant hum of servers, network switches, routers, air conditioning systems, and industrial cooling fans creates significant and persistent noise levels… Communities living near large data centers frequently report health concerns linked to the unceasing background noise. Chronic exposure causes sleep disturbance, headache, hearing loss, elevated stress hormone levels, hypertension, anxiety, and even cardiovascular risks.”
Data centres are at the heart of AI systems. Both rely on specialized chips, creating soaring demand and driving up prices for smartphones, personal computers, automobiles, and cloud computing services. The memory chip industry is currently estimated to be worth around US$3 trillion.
Assessing the environmental impact of microchips, Imec says, “The semiconductor manufacturing sector alone is responsible for around 50 megatons of CO2 emissions annually, contributing significantly to the carbon footprint of consumer electronics. Astonishingly, nearly 75% of a mobile device’s carbon footprint is linked to its fabrication, with nearly half of that coming from chip manufacturing.”
Rare-earth minerals underpin the semiconductor and microelectronics sector. The term “rare-earth” is a misnomer, because they are not actually scarce, but are only found in compounds, and they are difficult to isolate and purify. Such minerals are essential to processing, storing, and transmitting information, as well as to the development of AI technologies. Their extraction can lead to severe environmental degradation, including toxic water pollution, massive habitat and forest loss, and high greenhouse gas emissions.
Rare-earth elements have unique magnetic and electronic properties that are hard to replicate. However, there are substitutes. Ceramic magnets, also known as ferrite magnets, offer a promising alternative to rare earth-based magnetic materials. They have significantly lower production costs. Graphene is another breakthrough material with extraordinary potential: it has exceptional electrical conductivity and mechanical strength.
Governments, car manufacturers, and tech enterprises are investing heavily in reducing reliance on rare earth elements through recycling, supply chains that don’t involve China, and material elimination. Major backers include the US and EU alongside vehicle manufacturers like Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz.
However, while recycling is a vital part of tackling the highly secretive supply and demand chain, it is nothing compared to securing viable, durable, and less costly substitutes. Investing in alternatives rather than ramping up global military spending (USD 2.6 trillion annually) or commercial spaceflight development (upwards of USD 40 billion annually) would represent a giant leap towards saving humankind at a time when the Earth’s sixth mass extinction looms.
As Carl Sagan wrote in relation to global warming (Cosmos, 1980), “Are we willing to tolerate ignorance and complacency in matters that affect the entire human family? Do we value short-term advantages above the welfare of the Earth? Or will we think on longer time scales, with concern for our children and our grandchildren, to understand and protect the complex life-support systems of our planet? The Earth is a tiny and fragile world. It needs to be cherished.”
Data centres are here to stay. We may not be. There is still time – maybe – to act wisely.
Photo: Earthrise, taken on December 24, 1968, by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders