None of this means we should slow down data center development.
Why not? It seems like this is the logical conclusion to the piece. Data center development is outrunning localities’ ability to build infrastructure to support those data centers, so data center developers should either slow down or build their own infrastructure and internalize the costs that they’re dumping onto overstretched municipal boards and utility companies. Why is it incumbent upon municipalities to accomodate data centers?
I’m not suggesting data center construction should proceed without any concern. It is outrunning local capacity in some areas, but not all. Also, there are other cooling technologies that can be deployed that use less, or no water.
The logical conclusion is to assess all the externalities, then weigh the true cost for the private and public sector. If a city cannot accommodate the resource needs of a data center and population into the near future, then yes it should halt or slow down the construction.
The entire point of the article is that opinions are being formed using broad area numbers when the actual decision is very local. Not fair to say its the entire point. It spurred the article.
So to clarify, your position is that the US shouldn’t impose national restrictions on datacenter development just because data centers are exceeding the capacity of local infrastructure in some places. Rather, we should allow those decisions to be made locally?
Why not? It seems like this is the logical conclusion to the piece. Data center development is outrunning localities’ ability to build infrastructure to support those data centers, so data center developers should either slow down or build their own infrastructure and internalize the costs that they’re dumping onto overstretched municipal boards and utility companies. Why is it incumbent upon municipalities to accomodate data centers?
I’m not suggesting data center construction should proceed without any concern. It is outrunning local capacity in some areas, but not all. Also, there are other cooling technologies that can be deployed that use less, or no water.
The logical conclusion is to assess all the externalities, then weigh the true cost for the private and public sector. If a city cannot accommodate the resource needs of a data center and population into the near future, then yes it should halt or slow down the construction.
The entire point of the article is that opinions are being formed using broad area numbers when the actual decision is very local.Not fair to say its the entire point. It spurred the article.So to clarify, your position is that the US shouldn’t impose national restrictions on datacenter development just because data centers are exceeding the capacity of local infrastructure in some places. Rather, we should allow those decisions to be made locally?