High electricity bills don’t rank as the top public data center concern, per a new Harvard/MIT poll. (Axios)
Compared with energy costs, people were 2x more worried about data centers’ effects on local quality of life, according to a November poll with 1,000 US respondents. Still, two-thirds said they expect a nearby data center to drive up local electricity prices.
Some 40% of respondents supported data centers in their areas, while around 32% opposed them. People were more likely to support local auto factories and e-commerce warehouses than data centers, but less likely to back petrochemical plants.
The bottom line? Dozens of states have built their data center policy around rate protection. That may still matter, but developers fighting the backlash on price alone are missing the larger point.