The rise of AI isn’t just changing your English class; it may also change how Madison County will look and sound.
On Jan. 20, the Godfrey Village Board passed a resolution on a 180-day moratorium for all data center construction proposal considerations, according to the Alton Telegraph. Data centers are also being considered in Troy and Granite City.
Data centers are typically warehouses used to house computers and servers used to store large quantities of data that are then leased out to companies. They could be used to store data for training Large Language Models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini or store data for other purposes.
The increase in AI prospecting has led to a surge in the amount of data centers being constructed. The data center proposals offer billions in investment, though these figures lack verification.
Village board trustee Rick Lauschke stated that they did not have enough information to make a decision.
“I don’t think anybody is opposed to it, but we don’t know enough,” Lauschke said to the Alton Telegraph.
The moratorium came after weeks of protests across Madison County that attempted to halt the construction in all three towns. Survey respondents at EHS disapproved of the construction, with 70% being against the idea of a data center locally.
Little is known on the exact specifics on what these proposed data centers would consume in terms of water or power, but a key concern is over whether this would increase the bills of nearby residents.
Though details have not been given on the power consumption of the centers, the Pew Research Center reports that some of the largest data centers use as much energy as 100,000 households. Data centers also need large stores of water to cool the electronics they house.
Of the 90 respondents in the survey, 21 mentioned the exceptional water usage of the data centers as a reason for their disapproval.
“AI data centers harm the environment by wasting fresh water, so I would not want one in my community,” junior Reggie Cummins said.
Data centers are also large compounds, with a proposal in Troy having 1.4 million square feet devoted to data storage, according to designs by Cloverleaf Infrastructure. This would place it in the Hyperscale size class and the fifth largest on the planet.
Freshman Jack Bowker approves of the construction of a data center, but not how it is currently being proposed.
“I don’t see any effect it could have on the county if it is built in a more remote area,” Bowker said. “If it is, however, made in a more urban community, then I could see it becoming an issue.”
The proposal in Troy would be less than a mile from neighborhoods, daycares and senior living facilities, and even closer to the Tri-Township Park.
The noise produced by the data center has the potential to reach over 100 decibels, which is the same volume as a lawnmower being run continuously, according to DataCenter Knowledge. But DataCenter Knowledge claims that the majority of the sound that escapes the facilities is an inaudible frequency which can have long term health risks. This low frequency sound can travel much farther than mowing sounds can, and few data centers focus on mitigating this noise and just focus on what is audible.
Proponents of data centers believe that they could generate jobs for the area. However, the Detroit News says that the construction generates the most jobs, and most data centers only employ about 50 people.
The data center plans have not been approved yet, and no consensus has been reached. Public opposition remains one of the largest issues for the projects.
“I disapprove of the water waste and dumping money into something that helps no one but the wealthiest,” Junior Emily Raymer said.