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Golf courses outdrink data centers
Water and power
A data center that stands up its own power generation can sell the excess back to the grid, and data centers pay for grid upgrade costs. On that setup, they bring electricity costs down.
Ellendale's turnaround
Ellendale was a dying town until a data center was built there. The Wall Street Journal reported that its tax revenue is up tenfold. Communities that embrace data centers see better schools and services because of the tax revenue.
The real issues
Real issues exist. Noise is one. Air pollution is another, from the natural gas that powers nearly all new data centers. At scale, a cluster in one valley can raise the local temperature a couple of degrees, which is worth monitoring. Keeping data centers far from people limits most of these problems.
How do data centers cool with little water?
Closed-loop liquid cooling circulates the same water or coolant through servers and heat exchangers, so it is not consumed. Air-cooled chillers use almost no water but need more electricity. Evaporative cooling uses far more water but less power. Operators track efficiency with power usage effectiveness, a ratio of total facility energy to computing energy, introduced by The Green Grid consortium.
How can data centers lower electricity rates?
Utilities recover the fixed costs of power lines and plants across every kilowatt-hour they sell. A large new customer that pays for its own connection adds sales without adding to those fixed costs for everyone else. Some states now require large customers to sign long contracts with minimum payments for that reason. Such contracts are called large-load tariffs.
How can data centers warm a valley?
Pavement, buildings, and waste heat raise temperatures where they are concentrated, a pattern called the urban heat island effect. The US Environmental Protection Agency says daytime air temperatures in cities can run 1 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit above those of surrounding areas. A cluster of data centers releases the heat of all the electricity it consumes into the surrounding air. Evaporative designs release part of that heat as water vapor.
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