Toolkit: Help Stop AI Data Centers in Your Community!
A data center is a centralized physical facility that houses IT infrastructure, including servers, storage systems, and networking equipment, to store, process, and distribute large amounts of data. Data centers vary in size and purpose, ranging from small “in-house” facilities that support a single organization to hyperscale data centers operated by major cloud providers. As demand for digital services continues to grow, data centers play an increasingly important role in ensuring high performance, data availability, scalability, and cybersecurity across the global digital ecosystem.
In recent months, it has become clear that local governments aren’t prepared for the rapid arrival of these types of facilities; there also aren’t any regulations in place for them.
What's at Stake:
- Extreme Strain on Energy Grids
A single large AI data center can consume as much electricity as 50,000 households. To support this massive demand, electric companies must upgrade infrastructure, which often drives up electricity rates for local residents.
- Massive Water Consumption
Data centers require up to 5 million gallons of water every day to run the cooling systems that keep server racks from overheating. They often consume water directly from local drinking and municipal water sources, worsening water scarcity in vulnerable areas.
- Public Health and Noise Pollution
A data center’s industrial cooling fans and HVAC systems run continuously, creating a permanent high-decibel drone that disrupts sleep and increases stress for residents, drives homeowners out of neighborhoods, and decreases local property values.
- Minimal Economic Benefit
Despite taking up vast amounts of land and receiving major state tax breaks, completed data center warehouses employ very few permanent workers.
Take Action
Together, we can push back against data centers in our communities. Sign up for updates, support our work, follow us on social media, and check out our toolkit below for information, resources, and materials to join us in this fight!
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