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San Jose City Hall will be the site of a rally for data center regulations on October 15. Photo credit: atmtx, flickr
Stand with your San Jose neighbors as we call for community-informed, responsible development of AI data centers in San Jose. This press conference and rally will bring together community members, youth leaders, advocates, and organizers to demand that rapid AI growth does not come at the expense of our health and communities.
What: AI data center press conference and rally
When: Thursday, October 15, 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Where: Civic Plaza West outside of San Jose City Hall (200 E Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95113)
What’s Happening
There has been a massive surge in data center development in San Jose in recent years. Currently, there are twelve new data center proposals being reviewed by the city, with four more projects already approved but not yet built, and the city expects more applications to be submitted soon. All of this adds up to likely more than five million square feet of new data center development in San Jose.
Community members have demanded that the city develop strong regulations for data centers to protect public health and the environment. Data centers create serious environmental impacts, including massive energy and water usage, air and water pollution, and noise. Although so far the city has only released a broad summary of what the proposed data center standards would cover, they seem to fall far short of what is needed to mitigate these impacts.
We’re asking the city to take the time to develop strong standards that will adequately protect people and our environment, and to impose a moratorium on the processing or approval of data center projects until adequate standards are approved.
Why It Matters
While small data centers have operated in Silicon Valley for decades, the hyperscale data centers needed to power generative artificial intelligence (AI) that are being built today are an entirely different story. The chips that power AI use massive amounts of energy. As just one example, a proposed Google data center in Alviso would use 250 megawatts of power, which according to the California Public Utilities Commission is about half of what the entire County of San Mateo uses. The unprecedented amount of energy going to data centers is causing concern across the globe about the climate change impacts.
Because they use so much energy, these AI chips run extremely hot and must be cooled – which requires either more energy for air-conditioning, or massive amounts of water. That water must be chemically treated for use in data center cooling systems, and many of these chemicals are so new that their impacts haven’t been fully studied, nor is it known whether current technology can remove these chemicals from wastewater. Data centers also require a constant power supply, which means they need backup generators which often run on diesel fuel – a source of multiple air pollutants. Finally, data centers generate significant noise; local residents have reported a “constant hum“ that disturbs them at night and gets louder when temperatures rise.
What You Can Do
Please join us as we call for community-informed, responsible development of AI data centers in San Jose. This press conference and rally will bring together community members, youth leaders, advocates, and organizers to demand that rapid AI growth does not come at the expense of our health and communities.
What: AI data center press conference and rally
When: Thursday, October 15, 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Where: Civic Plaza West outside of San Jose City Hall (200 E Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95113)
We encourage you to bring signs to visually express your opinions on AI data centers in San Jose. The City is hosting a community listening session on data centers at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council chambers, so please stick around after the rally to share a public comment at the meeting!
