"We toured a facility in Northern Virginia to see how it works and to understand why water use and energy consumption are such a concern."

"The concrete black-paneled building known as DC12 looks like a regular corporate office, its tinted lobby windows reflecting the surrounding suburban landscape in Northern Virginia.

But beyond a double-locked entry chamber are the computer servers, fiber-optic cables and other technology that make up the infrastructure of our digital lives.

This 114,300-square-foot facility, owned by a company called Equinix, is one of the world’s nearly 7,000 data centers, which serve society’s insatiable addiction to smart technology. Thousands of computer servers here process bank transactions, stream movies, execute retail purchases or run algorithms for artificial intelligence software."

Antonio Olivo and William Neff report for the Washington Post September 17, 2024. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Data Centers Are Everywhere. What It’s Like To Work In One." (Washington Post) [3]