• Original Reporting
  • References

The Trust Project

Original Reporting This article contains firsthand information gathered by reporters. This includes directly interviewing sources and analyzing primary source documents.
References This article includes a list of source material, including documents and people, so you can follow the story further.
Illustration of a cityscape featuring buildings such as a pharmacy, supermarket, bank and coffee shop, with cars on the road, a pedestrian observing street signs about Colorado motorcycle law, and an airplane flying overhead.
(Provided by Gigafact)

Yes.

Data centers can raise the temperature of nearby neighborhoods by 1-2 degrees on average, research shows.

A recent study by Arizona State University found that waste heat from data centers in Phoenix, Arizona, warmed downwind areas by 0.7 to 0.9 degrees Celsius on average and by up to 2.2 degrees Celsius. 

A separate study by an international team of researchers found that data centers outside urban centers raised the surrounding area’s temperature by 2 degrees Celsius on average and, in some cases, by up to 9 degrees Celsius. 

Data centers have drawn scrutiny in Colorado for their significant water and energy use. One data center typically uses between 30 and 60 megawatts of electricity, which is projected to rise as demand grows. One megawatt powers roughly 800 homes, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Colorado has 57 data centers, 45 of which are in the Denver area.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

The Colorado Sun partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Sources

Type of Story: Fact-Check

Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.

Cassis Tingley is a Denver-based freelance journalist. She’s spent the last three years covering topics ranging from political organizing and death doulas in the Denver community to academic freedom and administrative accountability at the University of Denver, where she earned her bachelor’s in journalism and international studies in 2024. Her...