Data Centers! The New View from my Window
When I mention “the cloud” most people imagine a gorgeous white puff in the sky, some tech savvy people may imagine the storage on a computer or their phone as well. Me however, I think of a towering rectangle that has destroyed the forests I used to camp in. While I was born in Vermont, I spent almost most of my childhood growing up in Virginia. More specifically Loudoun County, which is now leading the world in concentration of data centers in one area. Nicknamed “Data Center Alley” there are over 170 completed data centers in this area that take up over 40 million square meters of space. In response to this boom of development many residents have expressed their distaste towards data centers, some even stating they wouldn’t have moved here had they known in a few years a data center would be constructed in front of their house. On the other hand, some people love that the job market is expanding as more of these are constructed. It’s easy as an environmentalist to pick a side, but at the same time it’s hard to convince people who are living from paycheck to paycheck that they shouldn’t be working for a company that’s destroying the ecosystem. I believe policies need to be put in place sooner rather than later in order to mitigate the consumption and destruction that comes with the construction and maintenance of a data center. It would also be beneficial for the community if they were given more of a say as to what is constructed in their area. As a current resident, I know me and all of my neighbors would have appreciated a vote before endless hums of generators and bright LED glow took over our nights.
The issues with data centers goes beyond obstructing views and ruining my sleep at night. They are hungry beasts that need a constant stream of energy and water in order to cool it down. It has gotten to the point where the grid is strained trying to keep up with the development of facilities in my area. This causes delays in construction, which causes traffic, which ultimately makes the community even more hateful towards data centers. Virginia has hot and humid summers, meaning data centers need enormous amounts of water just to keep them cool and running. Millions of gallons a day are used per data center, and on cold days right outside my window there is a constant stream of steam rising from these data centers. The overuse of water raises questions in the long term management of water in our area, when will we start outsourcing and taking from other counties or even states? Not to mention, Loudoun County is rapidly being developed and the population grows every single day. How much longer can we maintain our population before our electricity and water usage becomes too much?
If I were a resource manager looking to “fix” this issue I would first look at how data centers cool their servers. Currently, they use standard air cooling which is incredibly stressful on the grid and uses a substantial amount of energy. I would research liquid cooling on a level that would be substantial enough to cool an entire data center, while also not breaking the bank. Liquid cooling is also much more efficient than air cooling as servers can be more tightly packed together instead of needing empty space for air to travel through. In order to minimize waste, I believe using recycled water in the data center reduces the need for new water to be pumped into the data center. I’d also invest into getting renewable energy for the data center, such as solar. I’d implement a roof with solar panels, and batteries for night time. Lastly, I’d make a deal with the data center technicians and make sure they are 100% transparent with how much energy they are using.
Below I have uploaded my research paper titled The Role of Technology in Climate Change that at the time of writing was made about a year ago. This paper gives context into how humanity is repeating their destructive habits towards the environment in the pursuit of technological advancements. This was my final paper for the class Writing about Technology and highlights my abilities to do research and write about a scientific topic in a way people can understand. I also chose this paper as it represents a topic that I have been exploring during all of my semesters at University of Mary Washington, and it contextualizes this blog post.
