Beyond Washington’s dense western suburbs, the views open up to open fields and farmlands. Its panorama is frequently interrupted by giant, windowless buildings that house high-speed computers that enable technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence.
These data centers are beginning to dot the United States, from Virginia to Oregon. Each has hundreds of servers and routers that send and receive data for everyday tasks such as streaming content on mobile devices and processing high-speed financial transactions.
“It’s the engine that drives the machine,” said Gordon Dolben, director of Americas data center research at commercial real estate services firm CBRE. “Everything on your phone is stored somewhere inside the four walls.”
Over the past few years, changing work habits during the pandemic and the growth of cloud-based technologies have led to a rapid increase in data center needs. That means more buildings, more land, more cooling systems, and more power to support a physical infrastructure that runs 24/7.
Noel Walsh, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of cloud innovation and operations, said advances in technology will only increase the demand for data centers. “As a society, we are just getting started,” she added.
However, finding enough land to build a data center and enough power to run it can be a challenge. And developers have to address community concerns about these gigantic buildings popping up next to residential developments, taxing local power companies that are struggling to keep up with demand.
Northern Virginia is a major data center hub due in part to its proximity to the major physical infrastructure that forms the foundation of the Internet. Amazon earlier this year announced plans to invest an estimated $35 billion in data centers in Virginia by 2040.
A similar hub on the West Coast is near Silicon Valley. Most of the world’s Internet traffic passes through these two regional sites, which act as important Internet conveyor belts.
Industry analysts say there is a growing need to build data centers across the country as part of efforts to bring data centers closer to customers and take advantage of the increased availability of high-speed networks in rural areas and smaller cities. ing.
By 2022, the United States will have 2,701 data centers, the world’s most, followed closely by Germany, followed by the United Kingdom and China. Data collected by Statista. US data centers are clustered near major cities from Atlanta to Seattle, in addition to his two hubs on the coast.
Large digital companies and federal governments often own and operate their own data centers. Other companies and governments frequently rent space.
“Anyone who can move to someone else’s data center will,” said Jim Coakley, who develops, owns and manages high-security, high-density data centers. He built his first facility in Northern Virginia about 20 years ago.
Loudoun County, Virginia, is a major hub for data centers, but nearby Prince William County is also booming. Elected officials recently approved a major zoning change on 2,100 acres, clearing the way for a new data center of nearly 25 million square feet.
Zoning decisions are not without controversy.known as digital gatewaythis land is near the Manassas National Battlefield Park. directed by expressed concern about the “potential for irreparable harm” to the site. Anne Wheeler, chairman of Prince William’s supervisory board and a strong supporter of zoning changes, came out last week after a grassroots campaign to oust Anne Wheeler, who emphasized her support for building more data centers. Lost re-election in primary election.
Data centers will be built further and further from their traditional locations, moving closer to the customers they serve, according to research from IT consultancy Gartner. However, finding land is not always easy.
“Finding a suitable piece of land with enough power to put these facilities on would require 10 times more power than what I built in 2006,” Coakley said. “They’re essentially sucking up a lot of energy.”
Demand for data centers is so great that space is quickly reserved as soon as a data center starts planning, even before it hits the market.
“Every building that is built is leased,” says Ryan Geller, a commercial real estate broker who specializes in Northern Virginia and a principal at KLNB. “There are no vacancies.”
Still, energy demand is making growth difficult in some parts of the country. Virginia’s main utility, Dominion Energy, which powers the data center, said it was struggling to supply enough electricity. Some residents fear that the region’s data center needs, such as building new power lines and substations, will be passed on to residents’ subsidies. Silicon Valley faces similar challenges, according to reports in February. report by CBRE.
Armand Shehabi, a staff scientist in energy technology at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said the industry is looking for more efficiency to reduce energy demand.
“There was a lot of growth, but there was also a lot of efficiency opportunities and incentives to be efficient,” he said. And the pressure is on as major players in the data industry strive to become greener over the next decade.
The growth of artificial intelligence “will require new kinds of efficiencies,” Dr. Shehabi said. “It’s consuming a lot of electricity now, and I don’t know if it will continue.”
The need for electricity and the availability of skilled electricians has driven many decisions about where to place data centers in 2022, according to the company. CBRE.
Other environmental issues are also emerging. Data center backup systems often rely on natural gas or diesel, which can run counter to clean energy efforts. According to Dr. Shehabi, the demand for water is also increasing.
“Where to place a data center should be strategic and the water stress level of the area should be considered during design,” he said.
And developers face resistance from neighboring countries. Alex Holt, a recently retired first-grade teacher in Gainesville, Virginia, was surprised one morning when a large wall appeared just a few yards from his townhouse development, marking the beginning of a data center. The developer had promised to build the town center. “Years passed, but there was nothing there.”
The community was eventually notified that the town center plan would be replaced by a data center, but Holt said he didn’t understand the scale of the project at the time. And this year, “I looked out the front door and there was this huge wall on my left and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is unbelievable,'” she said.
However, some believe that data centers have advantages. They have provided a great deal of business to the construction industry, especially electricians.
Joe Doves, business manager for the Brotherhood of Electric Workers International Local 26, which represents workers in Washington, D.C., Maryland, said the job pays about $75 an hour and offers a pension plan, but many The industry says it is a relic of the past. and most of Virginia. He estimates that half of the data center work is done by electricians.
“We work seven days a week in multiple shifts,” he said.
