Data centers don’t have to be a burden on local communities – and can even support them by generating power and repurposing waste heat

A data center is planned to occupy a vacant commercial building in Monterey Park, Calif., near homes and businesses and not far from downtown Los Angeles. Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Many consumers – and state policymakers and even utility companies – are worried about the possibility of large numbers of data centers raising electricity demand and power prices.

Those are real concerns, but our engineering research finds that if designed, constructed and operated carefully, data centers can actually help the communities that host them.