"Residents who live next to them see giant, humming boxes that throw diesel exhaust into the air, drive up energy costs, and steamroll the look and feel of their neighborhoods-"a plague," as Virginian anti-data center activist Elena Schlossberg put it. "If you live near a data center that's being powered by these gas turbines, you simply cannot imagine living there," she said. You can "hear the noise" in your home, added Schlossberg."
"Virginia has long been the biggest data center hub of not just the country but the world, with northern Virginia alone hosting 13% of the globe's data centers in 2023, according to a government report. And for just as long, residents have been locked into battles over what that footprint means for their communities. Now, Schlossberg is leading a Virginia nonprofit group, Save Prince William County, to fight against the encroachment of even more data centers to power the AI boom."
"Data center power demand is expected to rise five-fold over the next decade, Deloitteprojects; reaching 176 gigawatts, the same amount as Australia and the United Kingdom's entire power grids combined.AI infrastructure builders, and the tech giants that plan to rely on the future data centers, argue that they're essential to unlocking AI's economic benefits. But in some of the states slated to house these projects, many of them politically purple-ish or even red-Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania-voters are revolting."
Data centers are expanding rapidly to support an AI boom, generating controversy as local residents report noise, diesel exhaust, higher energy costs, and altered neighborhood character. Northern Virginia hosts a significant share of global data centers, and activists now organize to block further encroachment. Forecasts project a five-fold rise in data center power demand to 176 gigawatts over the next decade, a load comparable to entire national grids. Tech companies and infrastructure builders claim data centers are essential to unlock AI’s economic benefits, while voters in several states have mobilized and sometimes defeated or influenced projects and elections.
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