Articles Posted in Data Centers

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GettyImages-1451308764-300x200Traditional and social media are thick with reports and predictions of the remarkable increase in size, power consumption and significance of data centers. Not only technology companies but real estate and energy developers, investment funds, lenders, and professionals of all stripes are in or determined to enter this sector. Our inboxes are full—it’s data center this, data center that.

But what exactly is a data center? What infrastructure, technology and human resources come together to create and sustain one of these localized points of computation? By understanding their components, we can glean some understanding of the business, public policy and (our focus) legal issues that arise before and during their operation.

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GettyImages-1416937322-e1725893825618-300x172Artificial intelligence, data centers, carbon removal and zero-emission power may sound like a winning line (plus the Free Space) on a 2024 Buzzword Bingo card. But the concepts have come into dramatic real-world tension as private and public actors seek to accommodate the digital and environmental imperatives for green energy.

After years of fairly stable demand, punctuated by declines during the pandemic and economic slumps, electricity demand is projected to double by 2050. A principal cause is the rapid expansion in the power needed to energize and cool servers amid explosive growth in the number and size of data centers, crypto miners, and other point sources of computation. Data centers were 3% of U.S. demand and are projected to be up to 9% or more by 2030; AI will drive a 160% surge in data center demand by 2030. A commentator notes, “We haven’t seen [growth like] this in a generation.” Continue Reading ›

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GettyImages-885296366-1-300x225Due to the rapidly increasing amount of data generated and consumed on the internet, an opportunity exists for commercial real estate investors, lenders, developers, green energy providers and others to develop data center facilities. Social media, streaming services, cryptocurrencies, the internet of things and other innovations have resulted in data center supply shortages. AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, require vast amounts of computing power. And, as AI demands grow, data center operators need to adapt the infrastructure to address cooling requirements in a sustainable manner.

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