xAI's Jet Engine-Powered Data Center Has Experts Raising The Alarm

AI data centers are contentious subjects at the best of times. When they aren't making RAM prices go out of control in the US, data centers increase the price of electricity. Admittedly, occasionally companies develop novel solutions to the strain data centers place on electrical power grids, but other times the cure they dream up is worse than the disease. The point is to prevent pollution, not double down on it.

Recently, the internet learned that companies have a new solution to their ever-increasing hunger for energy: aircraft engines. Companies such as xAI have been sifting through the rubble of airplane graveyards, collecting viable engines, and turning to companies such as ProEnergy to convert them into makeshift generators. So far, xAI has installed eight of these ramshackle power plants in one of its data centers, as reported by The New York Times. Currently, companies are racing each other to snap up as many jet engines as they can, because each one a company obtains means one less for their rivals. It's the same self-serving rationale data center owners use when they corner the RAM and GPU markets.

You might wonder what spore of Warhammer 40K orkish madness spawned this idea. According to President Donald Trump, you can blame Donald Trump. Several months ago, he claimed that he mandated data centers to "build their own electricity, so they're not taking it from the grid." And as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has pointed out, data centers in Texas retrofitted engines from decommissioned military aircraft to the tune of 48 megawatts of power each. According to the EIA's estimates, if all the engines from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base were used in such a way, they could theoretically provide an additional 40,000 MW of power — 110% of the current electrical generation capacity of Arizona.

When you buy electric generators for your home, you don't just go out and purchase the biggest one you can find; you need to research the right generator for your home. Fuel type and the conversion process are key factors, doubly so when you take their byproducts into account.

As you have likely already guessed, environmental agencies and experts are sounding alarms over the new jet engine conversion trend because the results are highly inefficient and polluting by their very nature. Yes, these transmogrified generators can output a ton of power, but a generator of comparable size designed for buildings such as AI data centers can output more energy with less fuel and pollution.

While xAI received permission from the state of Mississippi to use its retrofitted generators — which spew twice as much carbon monoxide into the atmosphere as xAI's other on-site generators — The Southern Environmental Law Center is challenging this decision. The law center's argument centers around claims that the generators don't meet emission standards for pollutants such as formaldehyde. And that's even assuming xAI can keep to its promised carbon emissions, which the law center has reason to believe was intentionally misrepresented. This isn't the first time the Southern Environmental Law Center went to legal war with xAI, as the organization sued xAI earlier this year for allegedly using gas generators without permits, potentially exposing a nearby black community to who knows how many pollutants. It's anyone's guess how these lawsuits will turn out.