Exclusive: Electricity rates aren't top concern about data centers, poll shows
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Public resistance to data centers isn't driven as much by electricity prices as conventional wisdom suggests — it's more about how the giant projects might alter their communities, a new Harvard/MIT poll shows.
Why it matters: The poll could shape how developers engage with communities as they try to build more data centers to meet AI's massive electricity demands, said Harvard researcher Stephen Ansolabehere, who oversaw the poll.
By the numbers: Overall, the poll found that about 40% of respondents supported data centers in their areas, with about 32% opposed.
- That's less than the support for auto factories and e-commerce warehouses, but was ahead of petrochemical facilities, which drew 23% backing and 52% opposition.
The poll also found that about two-thirds of those surveyed said a data center would lead local electricity prices to rise "a lot" or "somewhat."
- But it found that concerns about data center impacts on a community's quality of life generally were twice as important as electricity prices in accounting for public support.
- The poll surveyed 1,000 people in November by YouGov from sampling its national panel of potential survey respondents. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Between the lines: Ansolabehere, a government professor who studies energy and public opinion, said he wanted to explore the popular narrative that electricity is the chief reason behind data center opposition.
- "We wanted to know, what's the level of support or opposition for building data centers locally, but also ... what's the level of support or opposition for building any similar industrial facility," he told Axios.
- "I was surprised that jobs and growth were viewed as being as important as concerns about prices," Ansolabehere said.
- Quality of life, he said, "is one of those things that doesn't often get voiced very clearly in the public discourse."
Context: Frustration over constituents' electricity bills has prompted lawmakers in a number of states to try to prevent the growing number of data centers from causing rate hikes.
- Last year, Oregon became among the first states to require utilities to charge data centers different electricity prices than other industries because of how the centers increase the costs of production and transmission. Other states are following suit.
- The data center industry, and energy observers, have long said that the centers are only one reason electricity costs have soared.
- Other factors include an outdated power grid; the scarce amount of maximum electricity that can be produced when going full-bore; bureaucratic red tape; and hurricanes, wildfires and other threats that have spurred investments in costlier equipment.
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