Two New Essays Explore Data Center Siting and the Public Interest

Two new essays by Sanjana Paul examining the rapid growth of data center infrastructure and its implications for communities are now available on our Publications page.

In Parallels and Divergences in Renewable Energy and Data Center Siting: Toward a Framework of Technology Legitimacy, Siting Justice, and Proportionality, Paul compares the challenges surrounding renewable energy and hyperscale data center siting. While these can both place significant burdens on host communities, the essay highlights important differences in their public benefits, climate impacts, and opportunities for community ownership and proposes a framework of technology legitimacy, siting justice, and proportionality for evaluating infrastructure development.

Data Centers in the Public Interest considers how data center development can be governed to better serve affected communities and the broader public. Some key concepts include environmental justice, Community Benefits Agreements, and public interest technology, the essay explores how communities can have greater influence over data center siting, ownership, resource use, and operation.

Together, the essays offer frameworks for evaluating the growth of data center infrastructure while considering community authority, public benefit, and the distribution of development’s costs and benefits.

Read both essays on our Publications page.