What Happens When an AI Data Center Reaches the End of Its Useful Life?

The AI boom is bringing massive data centers to communities across the country. Urban planner Dr. Valerie Miller says local leaders need to understand the water, energy, infrastructure, and long-term consequences before signing on.

AI may live in the cloud, but the infrastructure supporting it is decidedly physical.

Data centers require land, electricity, water, and infrastructure—often at an enormous scale. And increasingly, they’re being proposed in rural and unincorporated areas that may have little experience regulating a land use this new.

So, what should a community ask when a data center comes knocking? That’s the focus of the latest episode of The Impact Series, where host Mike Collignon talks with urban planner Dr. Valerie Miller about what communities should consider before saying yes.

Miller starts with a basic question: Does this project fit the community’s long-term vision?

From there, the questions multiply:

• Is there enough water for existing residents and future growth?
• Can the energy system handle another major user?
• What new infrastructure will be required, and who pays for it?
• And do the promised jobs and economic benefits match what will actually happen once construction ends?

Water and energy present a particularly complicated equation. Different cooling technologies can shift demand between the two, and Miller cautions that a solution appropriate for one climate may make little sense in another.

Then there’s a question receiving far less attention: What happens when a data center reaches the end of its useful life?

With technology evolving rapidly, communities need to think beyond construction and ask who will ultimately be responsible for the facility, its equipment, and the land beneath it.

Miller isn’t arguing against data centers. She’s arguing for communities to understand what they’re agreeing to—and to get critical commitments in place before the servers switch on.

Watch the full episode of The Impact Series for the questions communities should be asking before the AI data center boom arrives at their door.