The world’s data center capital might be a lot closer to home than you’d assume.
Northern Virginia, or “data center alley,” is home to the highest concentration of data centers in the world, with 300 data centers in total and 35% of the world’s hyperscale data centers across Loundon, Fairfax, and Prince William counties. By the end of 2023, the data centers occupied roughly 48 million square feet of space, enough room to fit the Metropolitan Museum of Art 24 times.
Virginia serves as the major hub for streaming and smartphone cloud service storage. The centers contain computers that allow for massive data exchanges in US Internet traffic. The former headquarters for America Online, or “AOL,” laid the groundwork necessary to develop fiber-optic cable and energy infrastructure into a global hub of data storage, according to Governing.
The data centers bring several financial benefits to the area — the data centers contributed $174 million to state revenue and $1 billion in local tax revenue. The Northern Virginia Technology Council estimates the facilities support nearly 45,000 jobs. The state of Virginia’s tax exemptions for data and tech companies are major incentives for the industry to invest there.
While the economic benefits seemingly abound, the environmental toll is starting to show. For cooling operations, data centers use between 3 to 5 million gallons of water per day and the need for electricity surpasses the available electric grid infrastructure. In some cases, energy demands in the area are doubling or tripling.
With the possibility of power grid interruptions, companies invested in emergency diesel-powered generators. In 2023, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality proposed waiving air quality standards for counties with large data center concentrations, although the measure was withdrawn after community criticism.
Even efforts to support the industry with “clean energy” have drawbacks — offsite solar farms would only occupy more acres of land in the saturated area. In 2024, data center providers entered talks with gas companies to install onsite power plants, abandoning national plans to phase out traditional power sources.
Residents in the state are taking action against the overwhelming developments. The Piedmont Environmental Council has formed the Virginia Data Reform Coalition, a group of 25 “environmental, conservation, historic preservation, and climate advocacy groups” calling on elected officials to study the impacts of Virginia’s data centers on the electric grid, land conservation, and water resources.
In a National Parks Conservation Association poll, 86% of Virginian respondents said they would support legislation that banned data center development “within a mile of national parks, state parks, or historically significant sites.”
The coalition addresses the effects the data centers have on local community members, including decreased air quality, runoff in rivers, tax revenue dependency, and cost of land increases. Currently, the coalition has three priorities to remedy some of the damage: greater transparency, tightening tax credits, and protecting taxpayers from infrastructure costs.
With billion-dollar tech behemoths like Apple or Microsoft involved, the processes for data centers are often hidden from public discourse, promises not kept, and business exemptions leave surrounding residents responsible. The coalition hopes to enforce state-level approval processes and environmental impacts are considered, a revamped tax structure that promotes sustainability, and legislation that keeps Virginians from footing the electricity bill.
The boom of artificial intelligence and the massive amount of energy needed to support it only point toward a greater necessity for sustainable operations. As more concentrations of data centers crop up around the world, Virginians in the “data center alley” are pioneering demands for the future of environmental protections and tech regulations.
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