One Moment, Please… The Data Center Bait

By Jason Sethre

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve heard that the Harmony community is contemplating the possibility of a data center.  They’ve had numerous meetings and feedback appears to be abundantly in opposition.

I don’t think any of us want a data center in our backyard.

But, here’s where it gets tricky for all of us.

Does anyone in your household use artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Google AI, and a whole cast of other AI options?

Does anyone in your household work for a company that uses online software and maybe has their data stored offsite in the cloud?  Maybe it is for historical analytics, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity or disaster recovery.

Does anyone in your household use Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Paramount, Disney+, Apple TV+, YouTube TV, Spotify, Pandora or any other streaming services?

Does anyone in your household use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or any other social media platforms?

Does anyone in your household use online gaming services like XBOX, Sony Playstation or PC computing?

Does anyone in your household use any internet-connected TVs, thermostats, or other smart devices?

Does anyone in your household use Amazon? The internet?  Email?

Does anyone in your household use a smartphone full of apps, pictures and videos constantly accessing the cloud?

Then your household supports data centers by actions alone.

I recently visited one of my best friends from high school in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area, and I got acquainted with an entirely different world than what we are used to in rural southeast Minnesota. As a matter of perspective, the population of that multi-city region is nearly 9 million people – almost twice the total population of Minnesota.

My friend, who was the best man in our wedding more than 26 years ago, talked about a lot of interesting things happening in the state of Texas.

During my visit, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a temporary pause on upwards of 1,800 data center applications for the state of Texas.  That’s crazy!

The main reason relates to their electric grid. The electricity to support that many data centers is five times more than the maximum capacity of their entire system.

After what happened with the Texas power grid failure during a snowstorm in February 2021, they can’t afford to make any missteps that would put them in that sort of predicament again.

During my visit, we discussed the use of drones. He works in the IT industry, and had recently learned about how a Walmart Supercenter was using drones to deliver packages to homes. He actually visited the store and got a first-hand look at how these systems worked. They carry packages in an enclosed basket under the belly of the drone, fly to the address and drop the package slowly by a tether onto the doorstep of the address, returning to the store location to recharge on a tree with other drones.  He showed me a video and it was like something out of a science fiction movie.  That store location had approximately 40 drones delivering packages.

But, like he said, what’s it going to be like when you have Amazon and other companies also using drones for deliveries? Are you going to have drone traffic flying over your house constantly?  It sounds like a congested airspace on the horizon.

While he chauffeured me around the area as we went out to eat and visit sites, it seemed like there were about one out of 15 vehicles that were self-driving taxis at every intersection. There were Teslas and Waymo, mostly.  It’s a little unnerving watching a vehicle moving with the flow of traffic with no driver behind the wheel.

Every drone.  Every self-driving car.  Our smartphones.  Google maps.  Artificial intelligence.   All of the luxuries of technology in automobiles. All of the shiny new objects coming our way that everyone seems to get excited about – it all leads to the demand for data centers.

It’s undeniable.

All of the companies that have created technology that we have grown to appreciate and feel like we cannot live without, they helped us back ourselves in this corner.

When we look at the demand for data centers, we need to look in the mirror.

We took the bait.