Comment by hermannj314
6 months ago
Data centers don't create jobs, pit municipalities against one another in a race to the bottom, and typically demand abated taxes and almost never deliver a net positive for where they operate.
But if you create a "water" monster, pivot the conversation on water being the issue, you can then show water consumption isn't a big deal. Water is the framing the data centers want because they can win the fight on that topic.
Don't let your enemy choose the terrain.
FYI on the jobs, CoreWeave's new AI center in Pennsylvania: 100 MW capacity, ~70–75 full-time technical roles initially, scaling to 175 full-time roles at ~300 MW.
>pit municipalities against one another in a race to the bottom, and typically demand abated taxes and almost never deliver a net positive for where they operate.
If datacenters are net negatives, why would municipalities compete to get them?
Short term they sound good and promising. They are techy and promise quite large employment, and investments sounds big.
The reality is lot worse. Building walls isn't that much investment to local labour. And most of the value is in components that come from somewhere else. After install, they run on handful of guards and techs. Not worst jobs, but general in general any type of factory or even small scale industry would be better.
They're a net negative for the people who live there, not necessarily the business or political class making the decisions. See also football stadiums and the Olympics.