Recent articles
July 15, 2026
The Northeast Is Being Blanketed in Canadian Wildfire Smoke
Roughly 100 wildfires are raging out of control in Ontario, sending smoke streaming more than 1,000 miles from their origin.
www.wired.com
July 14, 2026
New York Governor Signs First Statewide Data Center Moratorium
“We have no choice but to address the challenges created by these massive facilities,” New York governor Kathy Hochul said. The executive order will pause construction for one year.
www.wired.com
July 10, 2026
Microsoft Reports a Massive 25 Percent Jump in Emissions
Data centers are driving up the company’s use of electricity—and carbon pollution.
www.wired.com
July 8, 2026
Dimming the Sun Would Help Lower the Risks of El Niño
As worries about a growing super El Niño mount, new findings suggest a radical solution to mitigating its impacts.
www.wired.com
July 3, 2026
3 Nuclear Startups Hit a Big Milestone. Why It Matters—and Why It Doesn’t
The companies’ Fourth of July plans include celebrating new reactor designs coming online. But there’s still a long way to go before they deliver energy at a meaningful scale.
www.wired.com
June 29, 2026
The Anti-Data-Center Movement Is Reshaping Michigan Politics
Climate activist Will Lawrence cofounded the Sunrise Movement. Now, he has shifted his focus in his attempt to compete for a swing-district seat by calling for a data center moratorium.
www.wired.com
June 23, 2026
Even the Internet’s Favorite Pool Guy Doesn’t Know How to Fix the Reflecting Pool
Algae blooms, peeling paint, and a host of fixes from hydrogen peroxide to nanobubblers have made it hard to diagnose what’s wrong with the Reflecting Pool—let alone how to clean up the mess.
www.wired.com
June 16, 2026
Why the Reflecting Pool Is Full of Algae After Trump's Renovation
Warm weather has fueled a bloom that National Park Service workers are trying to kill using everything from hydrogen peroxide to nanobubbles ahead of July 4 celebrations.
www.wired.com
June 16, 2026
DOJ Lawyers Argue xAI Is ‘Vital’ for National Security in NAACP Lawsuit
In a bid to dismiss a lawsuit over xAI's polluting gas turbines, the Justice Department claimed the company is integral to military operations—including the Iran War.
www.wired.com
June 15, 2026
The US Government Is Letting a Key Data Center Regulation Expire
The federal government is planning to let a rule regulating federal data center operations sunset in September with no replacement.
www.wired.com
June 12, 2026
China Didn't Make People Hate Data Centers
GOP lawmakers, tech investors, and even OpenAI have tied the anti-data center movement in the US to Chinese interference. Experts say it’s much more complicated than that.
www.wired.com
June 11, 2026
People Living Near xAI’s Dirty Data Centers Are Furious About the SpaceX IPO
Elon Musk is set to make hundreds of billions even as communities in Mississippi and Tennessee are fighting to stop the gas turbines powering xAI's supercomputers.
www.wired.com
June 4, 2026
How some data center operators are tackling their water use problems
Hyperscalers have come under scrutiny for their impact on water quality and availability.
arstechnica.com
June 3, 2026
Data Center Operators Are Trying to Fix Their Water Use Problems
Google, Microsoft, and other hyperscalers have come under scrutiny for their impact on water quality and availability.
www.wired.com
May 26, 2026
The Cookware Industry Has a Major Fight Brewing Over PFAS Claims
There’s a new front in the war over the safety of chemicals used to make nonstick pans.
www.wired.com
May 15, 2026
Trump's Federal Gas Tax Holiday Isn't Likely to Bring Down Prices
Reducing the fee will only have a marginal impact on prices while depriving the government of revenue to maintain roads.
www.wired.com
May 13, 2026
What It Will Take to Make AI Sustainable
Researcher Sasha Luccioni argues we need better emissions data and a better sense of how people are using AI in the first place.
www.wired.com
May 13, 2026
xAI Adds 19 New Gas Turbines Despite Ongoing Lawsuit
Emails show that Elon Musk's company is expanding its use of portable gas-fired power at its Colossus 2 site as a fight over air quality continues.
www.wired.com
May 11, 2026
A Chevron Texas Power Plant Seeks School District Tax Break
The move could save the oil company hundreds of millions, even as Texas lawmakers start looking at reining in incentives for data centers.
www.wired.com
April 30, 2026
The Summer the American Water Crisis Turned Real
Concern over water access are poised to consume summer in the US, as crises in Corpus Christi and across the Colorado River threaten to boil over.
www.wired.com
April 23, 2026
Greenhouse gases from data center boom could outpace entire nations
Plants from OpenAI, Meta, xAI, and Microsoft could emit more than 129M tons annually.
arstechnica.com
April 22, 2026
New Gas-Powered Data Centers Could Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Entire Nations
A WIRED review of permits for data center projects using natural gas and linked to OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and xAI shows they could emit more than 129 million tons of greenhouse gases per year.
www.wired.com