Details on Columbiana data center revealed, town hall set for Jan. 15
From the Shelby County Reporter:
COLUMBIANA – Beyond the quiet Main Street of Columbiana with its small shops and independent businesses, a new operation is preparing to rise, one not directly designed to engage daily with residents, but instead created to aid the continued rise of the digital age and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Over the last six months, residents across Shelby County have expressed concerns over data centers, citing fears over increased power and water consumption, energy bill increases, environmental impact and noise pollution.
Signs across the Wilsonville and Westover areas have popped up citing “No Wilsonville Data Center” and residents have been vocal on social media and in local city council meetings voicing their displeasure about the confirmed arrival of a data center in Columbiana.
These concerns have culminated in the creation of an upcoming Town Hall by city officials, which hopes to appease concerns by offering an opportunity for residents to voice their concerns and directly learn about the data center from its representatives.
The role of a data center
With the development of artificial intelligence becoming a rapidly growing industry, companies need data centers in order for their services to function. Those who are familiar with ChatGPT, Gemini and other popular AI services have already used the services of data centers from afar as well as those who have used other internet-based tools. In order for these services to function, a significant amount of computing power is necessary, which also necessitates large amounts of energy and water use as a way to cool down the hardware behind the calculations.
According to a 2024 report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which was published by the U.S. Department of Energy, data center load growth has tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple by 2028. Specifically, the report indicates that data centers consumed about 4.4 percent of the total U.S. electricity in 2023 and that they are expected to consume approximately 6.7 percent to 12 percent of U.S. electricity by 2028.
While accurate estimates on water usage by data centers is still debated and being explored, the same report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that U.S. data centers consumed 17 billion gallons of water through cooling in 2023. Water use by data centers could also be expanded to include the amount of water consumed indirectly through electricity use, which grows that number to nearly 800 billion liters.
The data center located in Columbiana is owned and operated by Digi Power X, formerly Digihost Technology, and is one of the smaller operations by the company.