California’s Bay Area debates data centres ahead of US midterm elections

Oakland, California – Protesters dressed as cardboard robots chanted and danced to a drumbeat as they protested against new data centres outside Oakland City Hall last month. Their concerns largely focused on how the centres — which process large amounts of digital information — might strain the energy grid. The result, they argued, would not only be environmental harm but also sky-high electricity bills for local households. “Power prices have gone up so much in Oakland that some people are thinking of shutting off their power,” said Carlos Gutierrez, an activist for Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental justice group. “And the city is planning to provide power to a data centre instead.