Tech giant Microsoft has purchased hundreds of acres of land across Michigan with the intention of building data centers, including just outside of Grand Rapids.
As the demand for artificial intelligence services has increased, corporations like Microsoft have been trying to keep up. AI requires large storage capacities and computing systems, resulting in an influx of data centers being built across the United States. This doesn’t exclude West Michigan, with plans for proposed centers popping up in Kent County.
Michiganders have been protesting in the streets and at town halls, calling for the construction of data centers to be canceled. Both Michigan locals and climate experts have expressed concern regarding the data centers’ potentially detrimental effects on the environment, particularly the depletion of freshwater resources. Many have expressed concerns that an increase in data centers could deplete Michigan’s natural resources and endanger its excess of fresh water…