Special Briefing on Data Centers: Will they power the US economy or bog down in a swamp of controversy? The artificial intelligence (AI) boom and the industry’s seemingly insatiable need for more and more giant data centers is brewing up a fierce political and economic battle as US state and local governments’ quest for trillions of dollars of new investment clashes with concerns over the impact of the centers on electricity rates, water supplies, and the environment in which citizens live. As The Economist noted recently, “Surveys suggest that Americans would sooner live next to a nuclear plant” than a data center.
Join Eugénie Birch,, co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, and William Glasgall, Penn IUR Fellow and Volcker Alliance Public Finance Adviser, as we explore the data center controversy—and its potential impact on state and local finances and jobs—with a panel of experts from government, academia, and Wall Street.
https://penniur.upenn.edu/events/special-briefing-on-data-centers-will-they-power-the-us-economy-or-bog-down-in-a-swamp-of
