The Future that Amazon sees in Ohio
Recently, Amazon has spent over $100 million to purchase land for data centers in Fayette County right next to Honda and LG’S battery plant, and this isn’t the only sizable piece of land they have bought in this area. By 2030, Fayette County expects to see $5 billion spent on construction for the new data centers. These data centers are physical facilities that store the hardware and equipment that powers Amazon's cloud computing services. This new center will be the company’s first data center outside of central Ohio, and is projected to create more than 100 Amazon jobs and support others throughout the supply chain. According to the company, they plan to expand their statewide footprint in up to eight new locations. This influx of data centers around the greater Columbus area is expected to eat up so much energy that demand for power in the region will be similar to all of Manhattan by 2030. According to American Electric Power, their transmission system in central Ohio was serving about 600 megawatts from data centers which is enough to power 250,000 homes.
I think that the industrial developments around central Ohio show definite promise for a great future, but I worry that too much development could drive people away from the area in the future. I just always think of the guy who cut down all the trees in the Lorax, causing all the little bears to leave their home. Luckily we have government policies that would hopefully stop any sort of situation like that from happening, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen to a certain extent. I know Intel is building two semiconductor chip factories in New Albany which will also be great for employment, but I wonder what the impact on other things like the environment this will have on the surrounding area. For right now, Columbus shows lots of promise as a place to find a job and make a decent living. I think it will be interesting to hee how sustainable some of these new factories are in retaining the growth and prosperity that we see within Columbus today.
8 comments:
I agree that the Columbus area is and should continue to be a good place to find a job over the next several years as its growing at a quick pace with all the new developments. The stat about the power consumption is hard to fathom and it will be interesting to see the environmental impacts that it has on the city. I think that, if done right, a middle ground that balances growth and expansion with environmental responsibility should be able to be found allowing for long term growth and benefits for the city.
I think that there are many environmental concerns regarding data centers that some may not recognize. For example, data centers require a lot of energy as you mentioned, which causes them to overheat very quickly. To counteract that, they require a significant amount of water to keep cool. Each data center can use up to 5 million gallons of water per day. This issue has brought up the idea of building centers under oceans or lakes in the near future, but many obstacles are in the way of the process. With the rapid development of technology, the challenge of providing enough data centers and limiting environmental harm is very much prevalent.
Love the Lorax example, sadly I am sure we will get there one day if not already. From what I have heard about all of these data centers, the environmental impact is insurmountable. I have been made aware of the water that it takes to cool these centers that support things like Amazon or ChatGPT, and it is absurd. I just hope regulations come in quickly before the effects are irreversible.
That is really interesting to think about. I mostly just did research on the other industrial developments in the area, so learning more about what these data centers actually are is interesting. I don't even think I can imagine what 5 million gallons of water even looks like.
I remember in the economic outlook conference, one of the speakers had talked about how she feels Columbus would be a very good place to find a job within the next few years. I wonder if this was something that she had thought about, I am sure it was.
These developments seem like maybe they'll drive people to Ohio for a while, but it makes me think about the booms in the steel industry years ago, and the cities that boomed during the steel era, are really struggling now. If Ohio does not keep up with the standard, I could see that happening all over the place as cities and towns lose their luster and people start to move out. Similar to Marion, Detroit, Toledo, Akron, etc.
This is a great perspective on the balance between economic growth and sustainability. Amazon’s expansion and other industrial developments bring exciting job opportunities, but the long-term environmental impact is definitely something to consider. It will be interesting to see how Columbus manages this growth while maintaining a livable and sustainable environment. Thanks for sharing these insights!
I sadly don't think that it will be very beneficial for the area. It is great to move forward with innovation and expansion by those people may just move out of the area as you stated.
Post a Comment