Artificial intelligence is smart but not yet energy- and water-smart enough for California and other states to reach their climate goals. The Department of Energy estimates that data centers will use 10% to 15% of the nation’s electricity by 2030. Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day for cooling. There is no easy way to reclaim that water for other uses. Companies building data centers claim the projects will bring in tax revenue, which they will, but the buildings are built and run to exacting, proprietary standards by specialists brought in from all over. Not too many local jobs to be had.
In one of the many recent hot spots for data centers and the energy and water they consume, Duke Energy of North Carolina threatened to raise prices for utility customers because of data center energy use. Other utilities are making the same demands. The New York Times recently published this article: "Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash."
Data centers are popping up all over, including one in Contra Costa County. In 2024 the developers of a data center in Pittsburg entered an agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) to allow the project, but with restrictions negotiated by the nonprofit. (AVAIO Digital is building the data center.) CBD sued the city because it had already approved the data center with little environmental oversight. CBD produced and published a detailed guide on the energy and water use and other environmental effects of data centers.
Hundreds of citizens attended a recent Pittsburg city planning meeting to demand that their concerns about rising utility bills and environmental degradation be heard. From 2018 through 2024, when the project was first approved by the city of Pittsburg, there was a process for community comments, but because so many concerned citizens did not know about it, the process was inadequate. Pittsburg’s neighbor, the city of Oakley, has placed a moratorium on any data center construction for a year. In more built-up communities, such as Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill, new large data centers would likely be unfeasible due to lack of developable land. The Pittsburg site is about 76 acres.
The settlement agreement requires the use of renewable energy to power the data center, environmental oversight, rooftop solar, and the use of recycled water from Delta Diablo Water District for cooling. Bio-diesel generators will kick in when power is low. BioDiesel fuels have a large number of environmental issues. Critics would prefer that the project use an on-site battery system instead of diesel generators. This FAQ provides many technical details about the design and operation of the facility. The Pittsburg data center will be located at the Pittsburg Technology Center, on the site of the former Delta View Golf Course, which closed in 2018. The 2024 agreement calls for two other Technology Center lots to be used future projects (which could include more data centers). No details are available on those projects, but the city will no doubt invite citizen input.
The prospect of data centers being built to use renewable energy and recycled water is intriguing, and while it may not solve all the ecological footprint problems of these facilities, it is a step in the right direction.
Photo by İsmail Enes Ayhan on Unsplash
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