Research webinar

Construction and Operation of Data Centers: Energy and Water Challenges from a Governance Perspective

Thu Apr 16, 2026

6:30pm MST (USA) | 5:30pm Arizona (USA) | Fri Apr 17, 9:30am (Japan)

Sponsored by School of Public Affairs, University of Utah

Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/yrybeuwf

Across the globe, data centers have become critical digital and physical infrastructure underpinning AI, cloud computing and storage, streaming services, and digital finance, among innumerable other technology applications. While they enable a myriad of digital services, their physical footprint and environmental impact are significant. Best understood as ‘campuses’ rather than ‘centers,’ these facilities typically have large buildings, thousands of servers and other electronic equipment, cooling systems, large swaths of land, and water and electrical infrastructure. Moreover, they consume copious amounts of energy, land, heat, and water, making challenging new demands on limited supplies. The impacts are experienced at multiple scales, but arguably most acutely at the site and local level in the form of often unprecedented levels of resource demand and negative externalities like noise, traffic, and aesthetic degradation. This webinar explores these issues from the perspective of public policy and environmental governance, discusses practical solutions, and offers reflections on the direction of research on data centers.