The yard of a house in Chesapeake, Va., displays a sign opposing the construction of data centers. Ryan Murphy/WHRO
Ryan Murphy/WHRO
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The two dozen or so nondescript gray, white and blue buildings lining Virginia State Route 625 could be large warehouses.
But community activist Elena Schlossberg can identify them literally a mile away by their telltale rows of backup diesel generators. The buildings are data centers.
“We’re sort of that model of how not to do this kind of development,” says Schlossberg.
All internet data goes through facilities like these: massive, sometimes multistoried warehouses filled with servers