Data centers do not have a favorable view in the public eye, at least on a college campus, nor should they.
Most of the stories that come to us these days on the topic are grim. While delivering a TED Talk in April, computer scientist Ayse Coskun gave the example of a town in Virginia that saw its electricity bills shoot up by 20 percent after the construction of a nearby data center.
It’s rare to read news that gives you hope, but that was exactly what happened when I read an article by Inside Climate News that went over the extensive zoning rules being rolled out by nearby Linn County. Keeping the possible dangers of these data centers in mind, Johnson County and the rest of the country should look to adopt similar measures, like taxing them more for their water usage…