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Concerns

Advocating For A Better Approach to Data Centers

With the right protections in place, we can keep our town safe and healthy while data centers become an inevitable part of our future.

Data center noise is a well-documented issue.

Data centers and their associated electrical infrastructure produce noise pollution 24/7—so even if the noise they produce isn’t loud enough to damage your hearing, it is proven to harm the mental and physical health of those living nearby. Think of it this way: you might not mind if your neighbor mows their yard while you’re at home because it only takes about an hour, but if your neighbor was mowing their yard 24/7, you might mind it a lot.

 

The World Health Organization recommends that residential noise be no louder than 40 decibels (dBa) at night, but Culpeper data centers—including the Culpeper Technology Campus—are permitted to emit up to 55 dBA at night. a level ten times louder than the recommended levels! Without action, the unchecked noise pollution will make Culpeper an extremely unpleasant place to live.

Of great concern is that we do not know what type of data centers are proposed.  With SWIFT and Equinix already established, our worst fear is that the proposed data centers will be used for crypto mining operations.  The story below illustrates the negative impact on a small town and its citizens.

A Texas Town’s Misery Underscores the Impact of Bitcoin Mines Across the U.S.

February 1, 2024, by Andrew R. Chow, Time

Every night, the nurse anesthetist Cheryl Shadden lies awake in her home in Granbury, Texas, listening to a nonstop roar. “It’s like sitting on the runway of an airport where jets are taking off, one after another,” she says. “You can't even walk out on your back patio and speak to somebody five feet away and have them hear you at all.” 

click here

Electrical Grid:

Data centers have a significant impact on the electrical grid because they consume a lot of power and are being built faster than new energy generation can be added.  This is a HUGE problem.  Data centers are one of the most energy-intensive building types, consuming 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a commercial building. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) estimates that data centers could consume up to 9% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030, up from 4% in 2023.  The global consultancy McKinsey & Company predicts data center operations will double their U.S. electric demands from 17 gigawatts in 2022 to 35 gigawatts by 2030 — enough electricity to power more than 26 million average homes.  No other industry in the 21st century has such a voracious energy appetite.  So, what does this mean for you?  The Washington Post reports that, “A jarring example of fallout on consumers is playing out on the Mid-Atlantic regional power grid, called PJM Interconnection, which serves 13 states and D.C. The recent auction to secure power for the grid during periods of extreme weather and high demand resulted in an 800 percent jump in the price that the grid’s member utilities had to pay.  The impact will be felt by millions, according to public records. Power bills will increase as much as 20 percent for customers of a dozen utilities in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia, regulatory filings show. That includes households in the Baltimore area, where annual bills will increase an average of $192, said Maryland People’s Counsel David Lapp, a state appointee who monitors utilities.”  The Piedmont Environmental Council has an excellent explanation of what we are facing. 

Read it here:  https://www.pecva.org/our-work/energy-matters/data-centers-energy-demand/

 

Water: 

Our forefathers here in Culpeper saw the future.  As visionaries concerned about the fragility of our natural water resources, they founded the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District (CSWCD) in 1939.  CSWCD is the largest of forty-seven (47) conservation districts within Virginia and serves an area covering 1,445 square miles with about 111,000 constituents.  Visionaries, indeed.  And now, our elected officials in both the County and Town are seeking to undo this valuable gift by allowing the proliferation of water-sucking data centers. 

 

 Think about these documented facts:

  1. Data centers use a large amount of water for cooling, which can be equivalent to a small city's annual consumption. In the United States, data centers are among the top 10 water users in the industrial and commercial sectors.

  2. Data centers compete with local communities for water supplies, especially in areas where water is scarce. For example, one Google data center in The Dalles, Oregon, uses over a quarter of the city's water.  The proposals by The Peterson Group to build eight (8) data centers called the Culpeper Technology Campus AND Copper Ridge, proposed by St. Mawes under the subsidiaries CR1/Culpeper, LLC and CR2/Culpeper, to build another six (6) will bring the total number approved by our elected officials to 14 – YES, 14!  And they are entertaining more to be built in the Culpeper Technology Zone.

  3. Data centers generate two types of wastewater: domestic wastewater and cooling effluent. Cooling effluents are the largest share of wastewater and often contain pollutants that municipal wastewater treatment plants don't normally remove.

  4. Data centers typically are built on impervious surfaces, which prevents rainwater from being absorbed into the ground and increases polluted runoff.  Remember – Copper Ridge will site above the Culpeper National Cemetery.

Here’s what we think should be done instead:

  • The Town of Culpeper should require that the data center produce no more than 55 dBA during the day or 40 dBA at night.

  • The data center should be required to pay for a qualified third-party consultant to record a baseline noise reading on nearby residential properties before the data center begins operations.

  • The data center should pay for a qualified consultant to take annual noise readings to ensure that it is still in compliance.

  • If the data center is not in compliance, it should have 48 hours to fix the violation or else have to cease operations.

We also think the Town of Culpeper should hire a qualified third-party consultant to review their existing noise ordinances which are out of date and adopt additional protections for those living near future data center campuses.

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