Data Center Resources

This webpage compiles third-party resources on data centers to provide municipalities in the Greater Boston area with preliminary information on this emerging industry. Municipalities are increasingly interested in the land use, economic, and community impacts of data centers, and how they are regulated at the state and local level. While small scale data centers have been around for some time, proposed large and “hyper-scale” systems are newer land uses in the region.

These resources provide an overview of data centers. Please start with these resources to help build a general understanding of data centers at the national, state, and municipal level.

General Context

Data Center Policy Database, University of Virginia Digital Technology for Democracy Lab and Environmental Institute

Resources for Regulating Data Centers,https://climate-xchange.org/resources-for-regulating-data-centers/ Climate XChange database

Fact Sheet Series: Understanding Data Centers, National League of Cities fact sheet

Data Center Growth: Implications for Local Communities, American Association for the Advancement of Science database

“People, Data Centers, and AI: Exploring the Social, Climate, and Economic Impacts of the AI Boom”, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, recording here and slides here.

Massachusetts Context

If you have questions, please reach out to our team to learn more and get involved.

Sasha Shyduroff, Senior Clean Energy and Climate Planner, [email protected]

Georgia Barlow, Senior Government Affairs Specialist, [email protected]

Energy Infrastructure

Data centers can have a large impact on the electrical grid. These resources provide an overview of what this demand can look like, as well as some ways to encourage clean energy generation and procurement, load management, and waste heat usage as part of data center development.

Electric Grid Capacity

Overview of data centers’ energy use and demand on the electric grid, with some analysis of the implications of future growth on grid reliability, electricity costs, and resource consumption.

2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report

AI, Data Centers, and the U.S. Electric Grid: A Watershed Moment, The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University report

Global energy demands within the AI regulatory landscape, Brookings Institute report

Clean Energy Use and Flexible Demand

Explore the implications of data center growth and energy use on the clean energy transition, including potential for data centers to serve as flexible load to increase system efficiency and reduce reliance on greenhouse gas emitting energy sources.

Powering Data Centers with Clean Energy, Environmental Law & Policy report

Rethinking Load Growth: Assessing the Potential for Integration of Large Flexible Loads in US Power Systems, The Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Duke University report

Flexible data centers reduce power system costs but can increase emissions, Published study by Senga et al., iScience

Data Center Power Play , Union of Concerned Scientists report

Waste Heat

Economic Impact

These resources contextualize data centers’ impacts on local economies, particularly around workforce development, and on ratepayer utility bills which are rising in response to growing infrastructure needs to accommodate data center load.

Long Term Economic Impacts

Workforce Impacts

Additional information about the impact of data centers on local labor economies.

New evidence on data center employment effects, Brookings Institute report

The Local Economic Effects of Data Center Entry, Published study by Yue, D. and Zeng, Y., Georgia Institute of Technology - Scheller College of Business
Cloudy Data, Costly Deals: How Poorly States Disclose Data Center Subsidies, Good Jobs First report

Ratepayers and Utility Costs

Ratepayers are experiencing rising utility costs in part because of how existing rate structures subsidize the cost of new infrastructure to meet data center energy needs through ratepayer bills.

Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech’s Power, Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard University report

Behind-the-meter data center gas plants will raise US energy bills, Utility Dive article

Environmental Impact

The impacts data centers have on the environment, including air and water quality, are well-documented. These resources help outline the ways in which resource-intensive data processing can alterenvironmental conditions in both rural and urban contexts.

General Information on Documented Environmental Impacts of Data Centers

The Environmental Impacts of Data Centers Article Series, Environmental and Energy Study Institute database

The environmental footprint of data centers in the United States, Published research by Siddik et al., Environmental Research Letters

7 Ways Data Centers Affect US Communities, World Resources Institute article

Data Drain: The Land and Water Impacts of the AI Boom, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy report

Air Quality: Overview of data centers’ impact on air quality, which stems primarily from increased fossil fuel-based generation to power these facilities, including on-site diesel generators.

Heat : Explores the relationship between data centers and rising urban heat island effect, in large part because of heat released from cooling data center equipment.

Water: Overview of data centers’ water-intensive operations.

Municipal Impact Resources

These resources provide an overview of data centers in the municipal context, and a variety of issues municipalities can consider to manage data center development. Among these resources are information on zoning and permitting data centers, public safety and emergency management, and analysis of the cascading impacts of fiscal incentives for data center development.

Zoning and Permitting

Property Tax Revenue

Public Safety Costs

Emergency Management

Fiscal Impacts

Analysis of the long-term financial and community impacts of using tax incentives, rebates, and other means to attract data center development.

Reining in Big Tech: Policy Solutions to Address the Data Center Buildout, Public Citizen report

A Tax Break for Washington Data Centers Promised Jobs. Is It Paying Off? , ProPublica article

Subsidizing Servers: How States Are Competing to Attract Data Centers, National Conference of State Legislatures report

Community Impact

Data centers abut rural and urban communities alike and have thus brought a share of responses from residents. These resources can help contextualize some of the community impacts that municipalities should consider, from harmful noise pollution and disproportionate public health and safety risks for environmental justice communities, to opportunities to leverage data center tax revenue to support affordable housing development.