EDITOR:
“Please do not send long emails or unnecessary attachments because we do not have the bandwidth to handle all that data.”
Times have certainly changed. The digital footprint of one professional picture today is more than the entire storage of a PC hard drive just 20 years ago.
Social media has exploded the amount of digital data that is created and shared every day. Mostly as photos and videos.
“Be sure and save your work every few minutes or you may lose everything you typed into this document.” Those were frustrating times. Technology came to the rescue and now ‘auto save’ is standard in many PC programs, while Google saves every single key stroke in Google Docs.
Every single keystroke you make is saved forever. Every digital photo posted online. Every video. All saved forever in massive server farms.
One server farm data center is under construction in the Kansas City Northland area, between I-435 and Smithville on 169 Highway. In 2021, ‘Meta’ announced it would build this new government subsidized data center. KMBC reported “The Kansas City city council approved up to $8.2 billion in tax incentives for the Meta data center campus in 2021.”
Kansas City star reported that the state of Missouri will kick in up to $1.8 billion. At that time, this was the largest government subsidy to a private business ever in the history of the USA. That is money that other taxpayers have to subsidize to bring 100 jobs to Kansas City. The rural location has limited infrastructure to support this new data center. You get to pay for that too.
Google currently has a 10 billion dollar data center, called MICA, under construction near the Meta data center in the KC Northland along 169 Highway.
Now, Port KC, an economic development organization of Kansas City, Mo. just announced up to $100 billion in bonds for Project Kestrel, a huge new data center that will bring six new server farm facilities near the KCI Airport. Construction is expected to start in 2026.
Project Kestrel promises 50 – 100 new jobs. Not a lot of jobs for the billions of dollars in subsidies and government backed bonds.
These facilities require massive resources from local infrastructure. A typical Google data center uses 450,000 gallons of water per day, though some hyperscale facilities consume up to 550,000 gallons daily. This water is primarily used for cooling servers and networking equipment.
The new data centers will add a huge load to the energy grid in the Northland. Last year, your Missouri legislators changed the law for new power plants allowing electric companies like Evergy and Ameren to raise your monthly bill now to fund future power plants.
Why are these companies saving every keystroke in a document, every TikTok video, every photo, every text, every SnapChat story?
I am not sure why, but I know your tax dollars are subsidizing the construction and storage. Consumers’ electric bills are subsidizing the power generation and consumers’ water bills will help pay for the additional pipeline and water tower infrastructure.
Maybe we should just be thankful that future generations can look back and see our typos in Google Docs?
--Paul Hamby
Maysville
