In recent months, North Carolina has seen a wave of proposals for AI data centers, drawing pushback from residents. For this week’s Carolina Curious, one listener asked how these centers could potentially impact community health.
To find out, WFDD’s April Laissle spoke with Neha Gour, a PhD candidate at George Mason University. She co-authored a peer-reviewed analysis of the estimated health impacts of a data center hub in Northern Virginia — among the first studies of its kind.
Interview highlights:
On noise pollution:
"There are short-term health impacts of noise pollution, and there are long-term health impacts of noise pollution. In the short term, things like annoyance, increased stress level, sleep disturbance. Past research has shown that continuous exposure to noise can impact our heart, leading to heart disease. It can have an impact on endocrine disruption, which we have seen studies linking that to pregnancy outcomes. We also have studies talking about the linkage between noise pollution and tinnitus."
On questions residents can ask policymakers to mitigate health impacts:
"What will this facility mean for air pollution? How many diesel generators will be operated in that facility, how much water will be consumed by that data center? What are the noise level expectations? Are there any strategies that the companies are using to combat the impact of noise pollution? What about our energy bills? When residents and government officials work together to demand that information upfront, that is exactly how good public health policy gets in."