Data Centers

Data centers are specialized facilities that house the computing and networking systems needed to run applications and to store, process, and manage large amounts of data.

The demand to develop new data centers has been rapidly increasing amidst the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom. As data centers become increasingly common nationwide and in the St. Louis region, concerns have arisen around their environmental, economic, and community impacts.

Large-scale data centers can require tremendous amounts of water and energy to sustain, straining local utilities and potentially impacting residents’ utility bills; create noise and heat pollution; and cause other nuisances that negatively affect surrounding neighborhoods.