Loudoun County, Virginia, the world’s densest concentration of data centers, offers a critical case study for examining how the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure intersects with climate resilience. As artificial intelligence (AI) drives unprecedented demand for computational power and digital infrastructure, data centers are consuming ever greater amounts of electricity and water, placing high demands on regional grids, extending fossil-fuel generation, and transforming land use in Northern Virginia. These pressures are amplified by climate change as rising temperatures, drought risk, and severe weather events compound vulnerabilities in energy and water systems.
This project will examine how data center expansion impacts climate resilience, energy systems, water resources, and community well-being. By integrating community perspectives with technical analyses of grid reliability, life cycle cumulative impacts, spatial imprints, and economic tradeoffs, this project will co-produce, with decision-makers and county stakeholders, a first-of-its-kind localized study of the cumulative demands of data center development.
