Data Centers 101

Friday, July 10, 10–11:30 am

Zoom

What is happening around data centers in Maryland and how are data centers driving energy policy and costs of electricity and potentially water?

AI models like Claude, Gemini, etc. are driving the proliferation of data centers. Data centers are like warehouses for servers that store, process and send digital information. They require huge amounts of energy for both processing and for back-up plus huge amounts of water for cooling. Many utility companies are justifying rate increases as a result of data centers.

In this training, we'll discuss: What can we do to ensure that the environmental, health and financial cost does not fall on everyday Marylanders? Where are proposed data center sites? Who are the companies that are building data centers? What actions are counties taking and what role can they take along with state government in regulating data centers to maximize local benefit while minimizing harm?