Reuters | “AI data centers are forcing dirty ‘peaker’ power plants back into service”
Reuters interviewed UCLA Fielding's Dr. Lara Cushing about the public health impact of so-called "peaker" generating plants in residential areas.
Reuters interviewed UCLA Fielding's Dr. Lara Cushing about the public health impact of so-called "peaker" electrical generating plants in residential communities.
A 2022 study of formerly “redlined” U.S. communities, which were cut off from financial services like mortgages for being predominantly Black or immigrant, found that residents were 53% more likely to have had a peaker plant built nearby since the year 2000 than in non-redlined areas.
“If you were a redlined neighborhood, you were more likely to have a fossil fuel power plant built nearby, and we saw that relationship was even stronger for peaker plants,” said UCLA professor of environmental health sciences Lara Cushing, who led the study.
