Use this map to find the data centers in your backyard

使用此地图查找你家附近的数据中心

Knowledge is power, so here’s how to find power-gobbling data centers near you. 知识就是力量，以下是如何查找你附近那些耗电巨大的数据中心的方法。

An interactive map tracking data center construction and AI policy, built by Isabelle Reksopuro. 这是一张由 Isabelle Reksopuro 制作的交互式地图，用于追踪数据中心建设和人工智能政策。

When Oregon resident Isabelle Reksopuro heard Google was gobbling up public land to fuel its data centers in her home state, she didn’t initially know what to believe. “There’s a lot of misinformation about data centers,” she said. “Google has denied taking that land.” 当俄勒冈州居民 Isabelle Reksopuro 听说谷歌正在占用公共土地以支持其在家乡的数据中心时，她起初不知道该相信什么。“关于数据中心有很多错误信息，”她说，“谷歌否认占用了那片土地。”

Technically, she explains, The Dalles, a city near the Washington state border, sought to reclaim that land, “and Google is just a big, unnamed power user.” The city had in fact asked for ownership of a 150-acre portion of Mount Hood National Forest, claiming it needs access to Mount Hood’s watershed to meet municipal needs as its population — 16,010 as of the 2020 census — grows. But critics, including environmentalists, say the city is trying to secure more water for Google, which has a sprawling data center campus in The Dalles that already consumes about one-third of the city’s water supply. 她解释说，从技术上讲，靠近华盛顿州边界的达尔斯市（The Dalles）曾试图收回那片土地，“而谷歌只是一个大型的、未具名的电力用户。”事实上，该市曾要求获得胡德山国家森林（Mount Hood National Forest）中 150 英亩土地的所有权，声称随着人口增长（根据 2020 年人口普查为 16,010 人），它需要利用胡德山的流域来满足市政需求。但包括环保人士在内的批评者认为，该市是在试图为谷歌争取更多的水资源，谷歌在达尔斯市拥有一个庞大的数据中心园区，该园区已经消耗了该市约三分之一的供水。

This controversy made Reksopuro curious about the backlash to data centers being built in other communities. So Reksopuro, a student at the University of Washington who studies the connections between tech and public policy, decided to map it out. Using information collected by Epoch AI and data scraped from legislation on data centers, she built an interactive map tracking AI policy around the world. She designed it to be simple enough for anyone to use. “I wanted it to be something that my younger sisters could play through and explore to understand what are the data centers in the area and what’s actually being done about it,” Reksopuro said. She hoped to shift their opinions that way, “instead of like, through TikTok.” 这场争议让 Reksopuro 对其他社区因建设数据中心而引发的抵制感到好奇。因此，作为华盛顿大学研究科技与公共政策之间联系的学生，Reksopuro 决定将其绘制成地图。利用 Epoch AI 收集的信息以及从数据中心相关立法中抓取的数据，她构建了一张追踪全球人工智能政策的交互式地图。她将其设计得足够简单，以便任何人都能使用。“我希望它能成为我妹妹们可以操作和探索的东西，让她们了解所在地区有哪些数据中心，以及对此正在采取什么措施，”Reksopuro 说。她希望通过这种方式改变她们的看法，“而不是通过 TikTok 之类的平台。”

Using Claude, the map searches for new sources four times a day and checks them against the existing database Reksopuro built out. “Once it does that, it will write a new summary, add it to the news feed, and populate it on the sidebar,” she said. “I wanted it to be self-updating, since I’m also a student.” 通过使用 Claude，该地图每天四次搜索新来源，并将其与 Reksopuro 建立的现有数据库进行核对。“一旦完成这些，它就会写出一份新的摘要，添加到新闻推送中，并显示在侧边栏上，”她说，“我希望它是自动更新的，因为我还是个学生。”

Opposition to data centers is one of the few things that unites Americans across party lines. After the initial construction phase, data centers bring few permanent jobs, and send “power costs to records in much of the US,” reports Bloomberg. Though data centers are increasingly controversial, Reksopuro’s map shows that the public response to them is nowhere near universal, nor are the policies governing their construction and use. While there’s been a huge backlash to data centers in Maine — which in April passed the first state-level moratorium on hyperscale data centers, though it was later vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills — Texas “is a huge fan of data centers,” Reksopuro said. “Texas actually passed a tax exemption for data centers.” The state gives data centers more than $1 billion in tax breaks each year, The Texas Tribune reports. 对数据中心的反对是少数能让美国各党派达成共识的问题之一。据彭博社报道，在最初的建设阶段之后，数据中心带来的永久性就业岗位很少，并导致“美国大部分地区的电力成本创下历史新高”。尽管数据中心引发的争议日益激烈，但 Reksopuro 的地图显示，公众对它们的反应远非一致，管理其建设和使用的政策也各不相同。虽然缅因州对数据中心进行了强烈的抵制（该州在四月份通过了首个针对超大规模数据中心的州级暂停令，尽管后来被州长 Janet Mills 否决），但 Reksopuro 表示，德克萨斯州“非常支持数据中心”。“德克萨斯州实际上通过了针对数据中心的税收减免政策。”据《德克萨斯论坛报》报道，该州每年为数据中心提供超过 10 亿美元的税收减免。

Reksopuro isn’t against data centers, but she thinks tech giants benefit from a lack of transparency around data center policies. “Right now, it’s this really opaque thing — and all of a sudden, there’s a facility,” she said. “I think that if people knew about data centers beforehand, it would give them leverage. They would be able to negotiate: ask for job training programs, tax revenue, environmental monitoring, things to improve their community.” Reksopuro 并不反对数据中心，但她认为科技巨头从数据中心政策缺乏透明度中获益。“目前，这是一个非常不透明的事情——突然之间，就出现了一个设施，”她说，“我认为如果人们能提前了解数据中心，这会给他们带来筹码。他们将能够进行谈判：要求提供职业培训计划、税收收入、环境监测，以及改善社区的措施。”