June 5, 2024
Data centers are industrial complexes that house acres of computer systems for storing virtual information. Massive infrastructure must be built to support these complexes, including transmission, water, and sewer lines. Expert analysis posits that data centers are slated to account for a fifth of the world’s electricity usage and more than 3% of carbon emissions by 2025.
According to World Wide Technology, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how we design and build data centers.” In simple terms, every data center is now becoming an AI data center.
Let’s look at the electricity component . . .
Traditional data centers are typically designed to support lower power densities, commonly ranging from 6-15kW per rack. These power densities are suitable for standard IT equipment such as servers, storage devices and networking equipment.
However, with the deployment of AI workloads, especially those involving high-performance computing (HPC) or deep learning, the power requirements per rack can be significantly higher, often ranging from 20-50 kW or even more. Training complex neural networks, for instance, requires substantial computational power, resulting in considerable heat generation.
“Global data center power needs are expected to double between this year and 2030.”
Yale Environment 360 reports that data centers’ electricity consumption in 2026 is projected to reach 1,000 terawatts, roughly equivalent to Japan’s total electric consumption.
Now, let’s look at water consumption . . .
In 2020, data centers consumed an estimated 174 billion gallons of water. A 15-megawatt data center can use up to 360,000 gallons of water a day.
Yale Environment 360 reports that “Google’s data centers used 20 percent more water in 2022 than in 2021, while Microsoft’s water use rose by 34 percent.
Reston Citizens Association position:
1. Reston Citizens Association opposes any zoning ordinance amendment which allows data centers to be built by right use, in any zoning district in Fairfax County.
2. In the strongest possible terms, Reston Citizens Association supports the rights of citizens to notice and an opportunity to be heard, through an open and meaningful public hearing process, to allow transparency and case by case mitigation of impacts before any more data centers are to be approved.
3. Reston Citizens Association requests the Fairfax County Planning Commission to recommend that all data centers in Fairfax County be treated as a special exception use, and require a public hearing, due to the importance of the decisions, and the magnitude of the impacts. Finally,
4. Reston Citizens Association requests the Fairfax County Planning Commission recommend denial and readvertisement of the proposed zoning ordinance amendment, to the extent that the above items are deemed to be outside the scope of the advertising, in view of the foregoing concerns.
Therefore: Reston Citizens Association calls on the Planning Commission to act to ensure that Board Chairman McKay keeps his word that Fairfax County will set the highest nationwide standard for data centers by requiring that:
- Every data center must be reviewed and approved by the Board of Supervisors and have a public hearing through the Special Exception process;
- Data centers must be at least 1,000 ft from residents;
- Data centers must be at least 1-mile from our metro stations; and
- The Board of Supervisors commits to immediately act to pass comprehensive data center protections for items not covered in the zoning ordinance.