STOP UNREGULATED DATA CENTERS IN DEKALB COUNTY

A data center is a specialized, industrial-scale facility that houses the computers which power the internet. Think of it as a physical "cloud" a centralized location for the thousands of powerful computers, called servers, that store and process the data for our digital activities (Masanet et al., 2020). Every website you visit, every streamed video, and every email you send is processed in a facility like this. To function, these servers must run 24/7, which generates enormous amounts of heat. Preventing them from overheating requires massive, energy-intensive cooling systems, often using significant water for evaporation (Shehabi et al., 2018). Because any interruption is catastrophic, data centers also require a constant, redundant power supply, supported by large backup generators and substations. In essence, while a data center is the invisible engine of the digital economy, it operates much like a large, resource-intensive factory dedicated to processing information.

References:
Masanet, E., et al. (2020). "Recalibrating global data center energy-use estimates." Science.
Shehabi, A., et al. (2018). "United States Data Center Energy Usage Report." Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.