Sterling residents are raising concerns over the impacts of a data center that is operating independently from the region’s power grid – making it the county’s first data center with its own microgrid. The Vantage II data center is located along Glenn Drive and is bordered by a federal government building and an auto dealership. Nearby are are homes where residents say they now live with constant noise has interrupted their sleep, working hours and recreational time. Noise co

Residents of a Sterling neighborhood already are upset about constant data center noise — and now they have a new concern. A study done for an environmental group shows emissions from the center could have severe health consequences. Operators of the data center say they are fully compliant with state and local rules. Whether it’s daytime or the dead of night, there is no such thing as peace and quiet in this Sterling neighborhood. Here’s why: A Vantage data center there is t

Findings from a new Washington Post-Schar School poll come as Prince William County on Tuesday abandoned plans for one of the country’s biggest and most controversial data center projects. Voters in Virginia, a global hub for the hulking warehouses of computers known as data centers, have turned sharply against the facilities after previously welcoming them, a Washington Post-Schar School poll has found.

Data centers, once largely out of sight, out of mind, have moved to the center of a growing national debate. In Ashburn, Virginia, data centers sit just steps from parks, trails, and homes. The area, known as Data Center Alley, handles roughly 70 percent of the world's internet traffic, and with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence, demand is skyrocketing. "The number of data centers already under construction, never mind forecasts, is greater than all the data cen

One spring day about 66 million years ago, some dinosaurs probably looked up at the sky and, if their walnut-sized brains could process what their eyes saw, they might have wondered why there was a bright light streaking across the sky. They sure didn’t understand the consequences, though. Today, the mammalian species that took dinosaurs’ place as the apex predator on the planet — us — is figuratively in the same place they were, except we’re looking at our computer screens a