Data centers are no longer confined to the outskirts of traditional connectivity hubs, sitting neatly out of sight and out of mind. The growing demand for facilities and subsequent rapid pace of construction has quickly catapulted these facilities into the spotlight.

As a result, local communities are increasingly mobilizing to express their concerns over data center developments on their doorstep.

In May this year, Gallup published the results of a poll revealing that seven in ten Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers in their local area, with nearly half (48 percent) stating that they strongly oppose development.

Managing public perception by ensuring data centers integrate effectively into the communities they serve is, therefore, a defining challenge for the industry today.

Jenna Hamilton, vice president of national affairs at Green Building Initiative (GBI), shares how the non-profit’s actionable roadmap for sustainable and responsible development is helping data centers bridge the gap with the communities around them.

Before we build

The friction between data centers and the communities they serve can feel like an inevitability of the digital age. Yet, something that’s hard to dispute is the increasingly critical role these facilities play in our shared digital economy – underpinning everything from businesses and government agencies, to healthcare and education.

Whether viewed as an unwanted imposition or an exciting opportunity for advancement, with demand for their output continuing to rise and technology cycles racing ahead at breakneck speed, data centers aren’t going anywhere.

So, how can this mission-critical infrastructure be built and integrated in a way that benefits

both the end user and the communities situated just beyond the data center walls? The solution begins long before breaking ground on site.

"If we look back just five or six years ago, the industry operated with a stereotypical tech mentality of 'move fast and break things,'" says Hamilton. "And in many ways it's served the sector well for a long time. But today, this approach is changing."

Facilities can no longer be built on the assumption that securing the necessary local permits is both the start and end of community outreach efforts.

"We've seen multiple cases of data center developers going into the community where they want to build, speaking with local officials and lawmakers to get permitted, perhaps working out a deal to pay some taxes to the area, then getting started on construction as soon as possible before the wider community has any real understanding of what the project means for them," says Hamilton.

Attempting to put out the fire of public scrutiny has often followed a familiar path of tacking on donations and investments in local infrastructure post-build, without making meaningful efforts to understand community concerns and tackle them head-on from the outset.

"It's no longer just build, build, build and hopefully buy people off with some donations to the local little league later," adds Hamilton. "You have to begin with a community-first mindset that recognizes the stakeholders in your construction project go far beyond the local officials."

Sustainability as a strategic lever

Respecting the communities and landscapes that existed long before data centers means building with a holistic approach to sustainability. This, too, must start at the outset of project design and planning, rather than being shoehorned in later.

The good news is that prioritizing sustainability comes with a range of benefits. Beyond helping facilities integrate into local communities and manage public perception, sustainable operations are also efficient operations – bringing energy and cost savings, as well as greater longevity.

"Given the challenges we're witnessing around sourcing and delivering huge volumes of power, improving performance allows for comparable computing capacity while reducing strain on the grid. Every megawatt that can be used more efficiently helps utilities and grid operators keep pace in this period of rapid development,” says Hamilton.

"For the hyperscalers in particular, we're talking about huge facilities that cost a lot to build and run. Finding these efficiencies is a win-win. It reduces their operating expenses and helps make better use of shared energy resources.”

Through its Green Globes program GBI is providing a robust framework that guides sustainable data center design, construction, and operation while providing crucial assurances to communities, policymakers, and local officials.

Recognized by the US federal government, Green Globes is a whole-building certification system that evaluates the environmental sustainability, health and wellness, and resilience of facilities via a formal third-party assessment process. Registered organizations earn a rating of One to Four ‘Green Globes’, based on criteria spanning everything from siting to energy performance to water efficiency and material choices.

"Meeting the Green Globes standard clearly demonstrates a genuine investment in building a high-performance data center that's also going to have as little impact on the wider community as possible," explains Hamilton. "It's about reducing operational costs and helping to bridge the gap between facilities and localities by making a series of considered design decisions."

If community engagement is to be successful, sustainability can no longer be treated as a simple tick-box exercise, but instead as an integral part of operational strategy, built into the fabric of data center design.

Sweat the small stuff

Part of adopting a truly end-to-end sustainable approach to data center development involves leveraging the right sustainable technologies for the job. Done right, these solutions can contribute to operational performance while also instilling confidence within the wider community.

According to Hamilton, around half of data center energy consumption goes on power-hungry compute, the majority of the other half is dedicated to cooling, and anything left over covers various operational equipment.

"As a result, we need to think about every component of the data center – not just how much energy it uses when it's finished – but each individual piece as we put it together like a puzzle," she says. "Because even if the efficiency gains are small at the component level, they eventually add up."

GBI’s partnership with EPEAT, the Global Electronic Council's (GEC’s) program that certifies the energy efficiency of compute equipment, is particularly relevant for data centers. By incorporating the findings of expert bodies such as the GEC, working across the supply chain towards the same goal of responsible data center development is now equally critical to delivering an achievable framework for sustainability.

Tackling the problem head on

Most of the common concerns surrounding data center development are easy to identify – energy and water usage, noise, aesthetics. But it’s not just about recognizing these potential disruptors. Crucially, concerns must be understood at the local level, where priorities vary and the right solution looks different depending on a range of influences.

"Energy is the number one thing we hear about. Local communities are asking what a new data center means for their bills," says Hamilton.

Whether it's a greenfield build or a retrofit project, 26 percent of the points within Green Globes focus on power. This reflects a broader principle in GBI’s framework that criteria should be weighted according to environmental impact. For the Energy assessment area, these weighted criteria force project teams to carefully consider a building’s power usage, and deploy

systems and operational strategies that maximize performance.

For data centers, this emphasis on energy helps deliver facilities that are much more efficient than their peers and provides third-party assurance that the owner/operator is committed to being a responsible partner in reducing what they draw from the grid.

The same applies to water. Another top local concern, GBI reports that the majority of data center projects that have achieved Green Globes for new construction certification reduced water consumption 35-49 percent over the baseline.

"Beyond reducing usage, it's also about telling an accurate story about how the technology itself is changing both how water is used and how much. Data centers built today are using highly advanced technology to dramatically reduce the consumption and use of water. It's a much different situation than it was even a few years ago,” adds Hamilton.

When it comes to aesthetics, it's easy to understand why most people instantly conjure up images of large, looming gray boxes when the idea of a data center being built in their local community is first proposed. Similarly, the heat and noise generated by facilities can cause tension once operational.

Green Globes addresses these issues by considering opportunities for natural vegetation and implementing heat reuse initiatives. Hamilton shares an example:

"We've spoken to companies out in the marketplace right now about the work they are doing to develop processes for drawing waste heat from data centers and feeding it into nearby greenhouses to grow more food that can be donated to local schools and community programs. The pushback from communities on data centers is actually helping to drive innovation as the data center industry looks for practical ways to address concerns."

The dull hum associated with facilities is being exacerbated by the power challenge. As many operators struggle to secure enough power on increasingly aggressive timelines, relying on alternative sources such as diesel generators to ensure facilities run 24/7 can contribute to noise pollution.

This is why adopting a comprehensive sustainability strategy that optimizes critical areas of operational strategy like power design from the outset is so valuable for driving efficiency and mitigating effects on the surrounding area. Equally important is transparency. Hamilton explains:

"We're seeing an evolution where companies are committing to not using an NDA. While these can be valuable in an increasingly competitive marketplace – and an NDA certainly doesn't mean something nefarious is going on – coming into communities under a cloud of secrecy establishes a certain tone that makes it harder to get people on their side in the long run."

The patchwork quilt challenge

The lack of a uniform regulatory environment inoday’s data center market presents an additional layer of complexity. Establishing a single set of standards across an increasingly diverse policy landscape simply isn't viable. Instead, striking the right balance is critical.

"In the US, the reality is that Congress doesn't have a whole lot of jurisdiction to address all of the day-to-day concerns being expressed at the local level. The power lies in the hands of the local county, city, or state," explains Hamilton. "And so we end up with a real patchwork quilt of regulations."

As data centers continue to emerge across increasingly diverse markets, a key advantage of third-party green building certifications is access to a stable and consistent benchmark against which performance can be measured no matter the zip code.

Since many organizations don't just build one data center in one location, recognizing a system of criteria that can be applied across regions enables companies to build sustainably and responsibly at scale, while allowing each community to benefit from a genuine, measurable commitment to sustainability.

"To date, over 50 percent of projects we've worked with have achieved three out of four Green Globes, which is extraordinary," says Hamilton. "That means complying with 70 percent or more of the criteria applicable to that project.

“But to secure Green Globes certification, organizations also have to demonstrate that they've met key local jurisdictional requirements. So, we're actively working alongside localities to make sure their concerns are being addressed in addition to the criteria we're applying across regions."

To solve the patchwork quilt challenge, just as data centers and communities can find solutions to coexist, so too must global standardization and local priorities.

More data centers, more outreach

Today, much of the conversation is dominated by AI training, hyperscale, and colocation facilities that are taking up more and more space across the globe. The next phase is likely to look different, however.

Smaller Edge and AI inference facilities are expected to proliferate within dense urban areas – sitting not out in the open, but on the side of telephone poles, in the basement of office buildings, and increasingly right under our noses.

In this phase, community concerns will be no less important, but they will inevitably take on a distinctly different shape. This means establishing best practices today is all the more important in being prepared for whatever direction the industry takes next.

The message is clear: data centers can no longer treat community stakeholders as an afterthought to getting projects up and running as quickly as possible. They have to enter communities ready to answer policymakers' questions, meet local requirements, have difficult conversations, and be open.

"Green Globes is one of the tools available in the marketplace for setting this partnership up on the right foot," says Hamilton. "The industry is at a challenging inflection point with some serious growing pains and lots of hard conversations ahead. Communities are voicing realistic, well-founded concerns, and so it’s our responsibility to listen and respond."

More than ever, communities are knowledgeable, educated, and organized. But the friction between data centers and the people they serve doesn’t have to be inevitable. The framework for bridging the gap is ready for deployment.

To learn more about sustainable building practices, visit thegbi.org