Hello All,
I work on the legislative side of state government and am looking to learn more about the subject of data centers. I have a Humanities background so I'm not really a technical guy, but I listen to a number of podcasts on tech policy and although my legislator isn't very involved in utilities based legislation, I hear updates here and there from utilities lobbyists. I also work pretty closely with local elected of fairly large and growing metropolitan region with farmland that will likely be big focus for potential data center sites in the near future.
I'm mostly agnostic on the issue, but I am not without concerns. My state, like a growing number, is seeing massive bipartisan opposition to data centers on the local level. Recently this has seen several of our local governments have near complete turnover when they have supported data center construction and tax breaks proposals. Oddly enough I think most of these protests seem to be about general opposition based on purported environmental concerns.
My environmental concerns are mainly about keeping up with energy supply and water usage. It's great that folks are talking about nuclear again as a modern energy source, but it takes several years to build or revitalize nuclear plants. I think the hope is that with faster and increased permitting for solar and wind utilities, as well as transmission lines, it could provide enough for the growing energy demands for data centers. But we're talking about A LOT compared to production of a nuclear plant. Beyond this, it seems like the optimal scenario is water recycling for new data center project.
In my understanding, the worst case scenario we're seeing right now is the SpaceX/Xai data center in Memphis, which is using gas burning turbines and is also falling behind in its promises for a water recycling plant to cool the center. Now obviously that's a worst case scenario, but building a data center is a big consideration for a community to consider and we want to make sure local governments are making considering all tradeoffs when signing off on these.
I think data center construction is going to continue to be and grow as a leading domestic policy issue. Beyond what I've already described I'm seeing in local governments, I think as local leaders begin to grasp the full budgetary impacts of federal funding cuts from the Trump Administration in the coming fiscal years, there will be increased talk of data centers as silver bullet to stimulate local job growth generate tax revenue. But I fear if communities aren't coming into these discussions well informed, you could end up with a situation like how the Chicago fumbled privatizing their parking meters for some quick cash during the recession.
I've dumped a lot here, and maybe a large part of what I'm saying here isn't relevant to this subreddit, but any places you could recommend looking to learn more about data centers would be greatly appreciated, as well as any feedback.