Aaron Brown: Imagining data centers for people who hate data centers

Most people are at least skeptical of data centers, if not outright opposed. And yet, if you follow tech news, data centers are presented as inevitable. If we allow them, we risk consequences. We’re told the same goes if we don’t allow them. This coming collision between public opinion and economic drive threatens to shake our society in a way that demands preparation and creative thinking.

Gallup polling earlier this year showed 71% of Americans and 76% of Midwesterners opposed the construction of data centers in their area. This opposition cut across every demographic, including partisan identification.

And we know this polling shows something real. Except for President Donald Trump and a steadfast minority of technocrats and union construction labor, Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to oppose data centers for the upcoming election. This sort of thing only happens when consultants across the spectrum are panic-stricken by secret numbers.

The same Gallup polling shows energy costs as the chief reason for the opposition. People worry that massive new data centers will drive up their electricity bill or even limit their access to home energy. I’ll address that in a minute.

This visceral opposition runs deeper than mere home economics, however. Massive data centers symbolize the rise of artificial intelligence, a widely perceived menace to employment and critical thinking skills.

Young adults are seeing their entry-level jobs affected first by AI, all while their parents and grandparents mindlessly share AI videos on Facebook. It’s weirdly terrifying for all concerned.

The tech industry isn’t helping. They were the first to suggest that AI would cause massive economic disruption. This helped them generate vast fortunes from investors who imagined great profits in a laborless society. But it scared the dickens out of everyone else. Now our fragile economy is propped up by these untold billions of dollars, with no clear idea of how this can end well.

In podcasts and social media videos, the techies talk about “compute” like it’s some kind of street drug. We need to use more, make more, sell more. For the general population, it sounds like a TV crime procedural.

“Can you believe it, Rocco? They were peddling an exaflop of compute right across the street from an elementary school.”

“Forget it, Jake; it’s Data Town.”

Opposition to data centers contains nuances. Gallup shows that people generally see the economic benefits of data centers, and many of us have begun using AI — some begrudgingly, some with enthusiasm.

What if we right-sized the data center debate? What if we acknowledge the need for computing power without giving a blank check to companies who consume resources with reckless abandon?

Minnesota already has more than 73 enterprise data centers, mostly housed in government and corporate facilities. The controversy surrounds so-called hyperscale data centers of 10,000 square feet or more. Only one such facility, a 715,000-square foot campus in Rosemount, is currently under construction in this state. Several more, including Google proposals in Hermantown and Pine Island, are navigating the regulatory process and growing local opposition.

Last week, I tried to sort out the practical realities of data centers with Wannie Park, CEO of California-based Pado AI. Park’s company creates software that maximizes energy efficiency in data centers. His background is in the energy sector of computing, determining how much power is needed and how it can be conserved. Not surprisingly, he sees data center growth as a critical part of our economic future. But he warns of a “hype cycle” that comes with disruptive new technology like this.

“If you are fully trusting your destiny of your personal life or your business to AI, you’re bonkers,” said Park. “You can’t do that yet. Maybe at some point you can. But it’s not happening in the next year or two. A lot of evolution and improvement needs to be done.”

Beyond AI fears, Park said opposition to data centers boils down to energy and water usage. Both can be dramatically improved, he said. His company sells software that manages computing loads in midsized data centers to create efficiencies so that companies don’t have to build larger data facilities. Essentially, they get more computing out of existing capacity. If you ever had a PC that benefited from occasional defragmentation of the hard drive, that’s what Pado’s software does for data centers.

Park said companies are learning from the disastrous public relations of early AI and data center technology. Early secrecy and demand for nondisclosure agreements tainted data center construction across the country, but especially here in Minnesota.

“These data centers are asking for gigawatts of power,” said Park. “Just think about how underutilized they are when you see the leakage. That’s where there’s a problem. And that’s also probably where people are saying, it’s ridiculous. You’re using all our water, you’re losing all our power, rates are going up. I’d rather have a nuclear reactor in my backyard than a data center.”

Now, Park said, tech firms are willing to pay not only for their own facilities and utilities, but for the long-term infrastructure tab.

“If you need grid modernization, (these projects) create all these great values,” said Park. “Let’s have the data center operators pay for it. They’re willing to pay for it.”

Park’s company isn’t the only one selling data center efficiency. But we are sorely in need of a data conservation movement. Building out data centers is not only unpopular, but also irresponsible if energy, water and capital are wasted just to achieve market position.

Building up existing infrastructure with sustainability in mind should be our public priority. We must establish goals for the public good, not just for those investing billions in the most expensive technology that most people still don’t want.

_____

Aaron Brown is a columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board. Based on the Iron Range, he covers issues across the state.

____