RE: Data Centers. At least locally there is a constant angst about data centers and the “harm” they are doing. We just had a large data center approved in Mesa AZ over significant local opposition. Here are its attributes compared with their major issues:
Water: Air cooled, closed-loop design, so very minimal
Electric: Big user of electric
Noise: Uses fans to blow the heat upward but designed to meet local noise standards and should be minimal to neighbors.
Heat: the radiated heat from cement and asphalt has a bigger effect on local temps than the “exhaust” from the data center. (but still more heat)
Jobs: not that many permanent jobs
Traffic: not much after completion
Bottom line: If you buy a home next to an area zoned industrial you might have some negative impacts from a modern data center but not necessarily worse than whatever else might go in that spot. Mesa’s politicians only approved it because they mitigated most of the local issues.
My other comments:
- modern data center chips are becoming more energy intensive and heat generating. Technology is going toward cooling each chip as it produces heat, which is what the Mesa site is planning.
- old fashioned data centers used evaporative cooling which uses a lot of water but less electricity. They also are noisy, etc.
- In 2026 every utility has to know their capacities and the effect a new data center can have on rates. Our utility goes thru a process to charge new large customers for infrastructure and higher rates for electricity. Whether they charge them enough is unclear, but they claim they do.
Finally, on local internet forums there are a lot of impassioned posts from anti-data center people. My favorite response people make: “Thank you for using a data center to post your opinion”.
