Give Up And Learn To Love Data Centers
April 20, 2026
Tech Radar shares one story that puts a damper on any good news related to AI technology going carbon neutral or green: “An Ex-Programmer’s Devastating Take On AI Data Centers Is Going Viral — And It’s Hard To Ignore.”
Data centers are also bad for the environment (land and water), takes advantage of tax breaks, and brings few jobs to stimulate local economies. Ravenna, Ohio is a small town that might become home to a new AI data center. An ex-programmer by the name of Hollingsworth delivered an insightful speech about the harms of datacenters at a meeting in Ravenna.
Hollingsworth challenges the idea of closed-loop water systems and believes that the forever cooling chemicals will probably make their way back to the water table despite all the studies that say otherwise. Hollingsworth said:
“Ohio is becoming a major battleground over AI infrastructure, with communities questioning whether the trade-offs are worth it. The push back feels less reactionary from somebody like Hollingsworth because of his credibility as an ex-programmer and working with AI models in the past. He frequently says that he is not against new technology or AI in particular, but the costs required for it to run come at a price, and it’s one that the city and its residents will end up paying if the planning permission is given the go-ahead.”
Some folks are a bit more feisty. “Facing Angry Residents, Minnesota City Halls Are Ground Zero for Data Center Battles” reported:
Just a few years ago, neither cities nor residents had much reason to think about data centers. The facilities have operated at a small scale across the state for decades, often treated like warehouses or light industry. But as AI fuels a data center boom, Minnesota cities face a seemingly exponential number of development proposals without much state regulatory guidance. And residents’ concern over the large facilities and their societal effects are rising just as fast. The charged debate touches on everything from energy and water use to noise and legal risk. City officials are caught in the middle. Some, such as Bloomington and Golden Valley, have passed zoning ordinances to set rules on location, noise and size. Others, including Eagan, Carver and this week, New Brighton, have chosen one-year pauses on new data centers to study their impacts.
My view is that BAIT (big AI tech) outfits will hire legions of attorneys, support political candidates who like the idea of data centers, and promise a green approach. States like Ohio might roll over and let the BAIT outfits scratch their tummies. Other states, possibly Minnesota, might take a different approach.
What’s interesting is that data centers take time to build. Certain components are in short supply and expensive. The permits can be a hassle. But the big issue is technology advances. More efficient algorithms may reduce the need for the data center build out. But the dark thoughts might be: What if AI demand does not meet the projections of the spreadsheet jockeys? What if different methods deliver significant efficiencies? What if someone comes along with a way to leapfrog the Google transformer method.
Poof. The data center problem declines in important. Yep, dark thoughts.
Whitney Grace, April 20, 2026
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