Heat adds to strains on areas with data centers, raising the temperature on AI debates

LOWELL, Massachusetts: Eileen Castle’s swimming pool, the only one for blocks around, was once a refuge for neighborhood children on hot summer days.

But even as temperatures soared this week, Castle, 82, said she won’t be filling the pool – not with the data center behind her house buzzing with the sound of its industrial air conditioners and its backup diesel generators belching fumes at unexpected times.

“I think about the air quality, the water, what effects it has on the kids in the area,” she said on her front stoop as children whirred past on bicycles.