They're giving a fresh meaning to the term "NIMBY," those so-called data centers that are starting to pop up in both cities and rural areas around the United States -- are they really a bad thing?
'Not In My Back Yard," NIMBY, means something like "I don't want that in my neighborhood," often applied to various energy facilities, and the problem may be that data centers seem increasingly inseparable from too much water and power use, at least in the minds of some people.
But as with so many things, things are changing.
Few people realize that the most recent data centers can help stabilize the Texas power grid by siphoning off electricity at times when there's plenty of it, and sending power into the grid from onsite generators when the grid's running low.
"There's a lot of investment that data centers are making in bringing generation resources to the grid, and those generation resources will actually be available to the public in the time it's needed," explains Michael Jewell, a legal expert on ERCOT, the grid and data centers.
And some people are vague on the meaning of data in these new buildings that are popping up all over, and Jewell says data is simply computers and computation.
"All the different things we have in today's society that are computerized need to be going into data centers somewhere," he says.
"Whether it's medical or legal records, which are increasingly being digitized, or just artificial intelligence or Bitcoin, it's got to go somewhere.
The main reasons for that perception are headlines emphasizing the huge amount of electricity needed to run the computers that are the centerpiece of the new data centers, which can easily use as much electricity in a day as the "average" suburban neighborhood.
Opposition to data centers is widespread, especially in smaller cities and rural areas, because some worry about electricity drain, while others are concerned about steep local tax discounts that some worry aren't fair to taxpayers.
But part of that is the perception that data centers are big users of water and electricity, and Jewell says increased efficiency is allowing the latest centers to use less of both.
"New closed-loop systems for water, like the radiator in your car, where the water gets used again and again to help cool the computer chips."
NIMBY may soon be a thing of the past.