Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 07/12/2026 9:24:17 AM PDT by PROCON
The digital economy runs on data centers, a vital core of modern infrastructure most people never see. But there’s a debate brewing about data centers, with plenty of misinformation aimed at slowing data center development and, in some cases, halting it altogether. The Goldwater Institute has put together the following Free-Market Guide to Data Center Infrastructure to dispel some of the data center misconceptions.
Is it just “Big Tech” that needs data centers? What is really driving their growth?
No, it’s not just about “Big Tech.” Data centers are the 21st-century version of a power plant or water tower, providing the essential “digital flow” for every sector of the modern economy.
Hospitals rely on data centers for real-time access to electronic health records; banks use them to process millions of secure transactions per second; and manufacturing plants deploy them to power smart assembly lines. Every time you back up a photo, use GPS, stream a show, or when a student accesses an online portal for homework, a data center is involved.
Since every digital action requires a physical home, data centers need immense scale to support the global economy. What looks like an oversized warehouse is a highly engineered environment housing tens of thousands of servers operating with near-zero downtime. This necessitates specialized cooling, high-capacity fiber, and massive on-site power distribution. By building on large campuses, developers can grow in phases to meet the skyrocketing demand for AI and cloud computing while maintaining a predictable, high-value footprint.
Are data centers “resource hogs” that will drain local water supplies?
No, this claim is outdated and ignores modern technological innovation.
Data centers are among the most water-efficient industrial facilities ever built. Nationwide, data centers consume less than 0.05 percent of total U.S. freshwater withdrawals, a tiny fraction compared to agriculture, thermoelectric power generation, and manufacturing. Furthermore..
(Excerpt) Read more at goldwaterinstitute.org ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Better in orbit than in my back yard!
Have you read about what’s happening in Cheyenne? Why don’t you read up on that before making such a stupid remark.
That wasn’t in the referenced article. Suppose you tell me how a closed system pollutes.
Exactly!
Believe it or not, the place doesn't have a name, but this a link to the Beacon website. It used to be a bank facility until that shut down operations someone bought it to create a data mining operation
Yes, of course
And what’s more we must rid our drinking water of fluorides.
Yes we should!!!
what I don’t understand is why they don’t build data centers on federal lands in deserts that lie above brackish aquifers. desalination of brackish water is pretty cheap. further most of these deserts get roughly 9 inches of rain annually. that nine inches could be harvested on the same land that has the solar panels. a square mile of solar panels yields roughly 600 megawatts of power currently but those numbers will improve in the coming years.
Is there something wrong with paper?
The Huawei Shangzei Power company out of Beijeng. Wait a minute, there is no GUIZHOU county in Texas. I’m bilingual and my main language is Facetious. Sorry about the corn fusion.
https://www.waterverge.com/news/data-centers-water-contamination-pattern-cheyenne-georgia-2026/
Perhaps he referred to this?
Nothing wrong with quills and ink wells and slide rules. The populace is spoiled.
That seems to be a problem related to construction rather than operation. It should be safe to assume they'll be watching out for that sort of thing in the future. I hope.
I like the way a quill fells when I write with it. I still have my Post Versalog.
Back up your claim with proof or it's just your lame opinion.
Four blocks away! Ay caramba. I’ve heard that a data center emits a constant round-the-clock hum that can be heard for several miles. Have you noticed this, or any other environmental changes — sounds, smells, etc.?
The environmental lobby is doing the PRC’s bidding citing BS about their impact on the environment. What they’re afraid of is the fact that DCs can’t run on magical renewables so it means more fossil fuel generation.
Its not a water problem.
Its an energy/power problem.
Plenty of endless solar energy in orbit with no nonsense from far left wackos.
Data centers require immense cooling, with large hyperscale facilities consuming up to 5 million gallons of water daily, equivalent to a city of 50,000 people. While they represent only a tiny fraction of national water use, their concentration in drought-prone areas causes significant stress on local aquifers and municipal suppli
World Resources Institute
GOT IT did your work for you
I’m stunned you believe the liberals who hate AI and data centers. I guess you’ve gone to the dark side.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.