Surprising issue takes center stage as US voters prep for crucial elections: 'This is the first time'

As the outcome of elections proves to be increasingly influential on environmental efforts across the country, voters are now paying closer attention to which policies affect them the most. This includes concerns over artificial intelligence and the data centers that power the technology.  

What's happening?

In early October, Axios held a roundtable event in Richmond, Virginia, that featured a number of state and local officials as well as business executives from across the U.S. 

The discussion centered around the fact that Virginia is quickly becoming known as a central hub for data centers and the rapidly increasing electricity rates that come with them. Similar patterns are also affecting other states and millions of frustrated citizens.  

Many eyes are now focused on the outcome of what's become a bellwether for a large portion of the country's critical political concerns. The upcoming election in Virginia could help determine which direction the rest of the country will soon follow. This includes addressing the recent flourish of data centers popping up around densely populated communities. 

"This is the first time I've really seen energy as part of the conversation during election season," said Glenn Davis, a former state lawmaker and current director of Virginia's Department of Energy.       

Why are AI data centers important?

AI has the potential to be a tremendous asset throughout countless industries. It can be used to optimize smart grids, streamline the agriculture industry, and deliver more efficient supply chains across the country. This can be done while also enhancing environmental monitoring tasks such as tracking air emissions and predicting extreme weather events. 

However, the high energy consumption needed to power AI technology has led to increased carbon emissions and massive quantities of water used for cooling systems at data centers. This is in addition to the production of hazardous electronic waste from computer hardware. 

AI data centers have also been linked to significant spikes in electricity usage. This has increased the demand for fossil fuel production and contributed to more expensive energy bills for consumers.     

What's being done about rising energy costs associated with data centers?

According to Erich Miarka, senior development director at Savion Renewable Energy, attempting to establish more eco-friendly energy production projects to offset the negative effects of the fossil fuel industry has become a challenge. 

"Virginia is probably the most difficult state I've worked in to permit a green-energy project, and that's largely because of local land-use permitting," Miarka said, per Axios. "We're starting to be catching some of the collateral damage from the growth of data centers and the growing opposition to those." 

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Jennifer Ganten, chief global affairs officer for Commonwealth Fusion Systems, offered up a potential resolution to energy concerns in Virginia. Ganten pointed to the recent success of a fusion power plant project in Massachusetts as a possible blueprint for the state. 

"They did all the pre-work, so there were pad-ready sites," Ganten said. "Environmental work was done, some of the remediation was done. They also created a unified permitting process, which allowed us to go through and do our permitting in an expedited way."

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