Facilities Management Advisor
Summary
Hyperscale data center growth is running headlong into real-world constraints—interconnection queues, transformer lead times, water stress, community scrutiny, and tightening climate policy. At the same time, the thermal profile of the data center sector is shifting decisively from air to liquid cooling, concentrating heat into a form far more useful than a plume of hot exhaust. In that context, district energy—the practice of distributing heating and cooling through shared underground networks—is a strategic lever.
Data centers accounted for roughly 4.4% of U.S. electricity use in 2023 and, while forecasts vary widely, projections consistently point to significant growth through the end of the decade. For facilities executives managing data center assets or properties that host them, the constraints bearing down on this sector—power, water, and community acceptance—are precisely the areas where district energy integration has demonstrated measurable, operating-scale impact.
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