Making sense of the data center backlash
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Data center opposition has gone from nonexistent to organized in about two years, roughly 120 moratoriums across 38 states, and it does not track proximity: Gallup finds 70% of Americans oppose a data center near them, while only 8% of opponents live near one. On this episode of Volts, David Roberts joins Energy Empire hosts Jigar Shah and Jamie Nolan, along with Arnab Pal of Deploy Action, for a crossover conversation, and his argument is that everyone is solving the wrong problem. The hyperscalers could buy their way to consent for a rounding error, batteries in basements, solar on roofs, funded schools, lower bills, and they refuse, which David reads as a symptom of low social trust that no amount of better modeling touches. “This is not a technocratic problem that you can just solve with a few switches,” he says. Thirty-six governors go to the ballot this fall having to answer for it.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro: a Volts and Energy Empire crossover
01:25 Has the AI case been made? Energy vs. AI as the real revolution
04:23 The backlash by the numbers, and hyperscalers' botched PR
08:20 Animal spirits, low social trust, and the information environment
12:46 Enshittification, lost jobs, and why governors still want data centers
15:50 The local playbook: schools, bioswales, batteries in basements
17:18 Bespoke industrial rates without setting a bad precedent
22:33 How utilities earn: spend-to-earn, the distribution black box, efficiency
30:11 Gendering the grid: gas as firm, renewables as soft
37:57 NERC's level-three alert and the case for more batteries
39:29 Both/and: distributed capacity as serious supply
45:33 Abundance's missing half: state capacity, staffing, NEPA
48:55 The midterms: 36 governors and the politics of affordability
53:33 Hope vs. fear: the Mamdani lesson and the information environment
Data center opposition has gone from nonexistent to organized in about two years, roughly 120 moratoriums across 38 states, and it does not track proximity: Gallup finds 70% of Americans oppose a data center near them, while only 8% of opponents live near one. On this episode of Volts, David Roberts joins Energy Empire hosts Jigar Shah and Jamie Nolan, along with Arnab Pal of Deploy Action, for a crossover conversation, and his argument is that everyone is solving the wrong problem. The hyperscalers could buy their way to consent for a rounding error, batteries in basements, solar on roofs, funded schools, lower bills, and they refuse, which David reads as a symptom of low social trust that no amount of better modeling touches. “This is not a technocratic problem that you can just solve with a few switches,” he says. Thirty-six governors go to the ballot this fall having to answer for it.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro: a Volts and Energy Empire crossover
01:25 Has the AI case been made? Energy vs. AI as the real revolution
04:23 The backlash by the numbers, and hyperscalers' botched PR
08:20 Animal spirits, low social trust, and the information environment
12:46 Enshittification, lost jobs, and why governors still want data centers
15:50 The local playbook: schools, bioswales, batteries in basements
17:18 Bespoke industrial rates without setting a bad precedent
22:33 How utilities earn: spend-to-earn, the distribution black box, efficiency
30:11 Gendering the grid: gas as firm, renewables as soft
37:57 NERC's level-three alert and the case for more batteries
39:29 Both/and: distributed capacity as serious supply
45:33 Abundance's missing half: state capacity, staffing, NEPA
48:55 The midterms: 36 governors and the politics of affordability
53:33 Hope vs. fear: the Mamdani lesson and the information environment
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