Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen wants a one-year moratorium on data centers in Baltimore City and will introduce legislation to that effect Monday.
The proposed legislation defines data centers as facilities “used for remote storage, processing, and distribution of data” that have an electrical demand of 10 Megawatts or greater. They would be prohibited zoning use anywhere in Baltimore City for one year after the bill is enacted.
The year-long period is intended to give enough time for the publication and analysis of a study authorized by the General Assembly. The state legislature is asking the Public Service Commission to establish a process to register “large load customers,” which includes data centers.
During the moratorium, the city council would establish a process for how to regulate data centers in a way that protects both residents’ interests and the city’s infrastructure.
Capital News Service reported that Maryland’s power grid was having difficulty keeping up with the demands data centers place on it. The rising demand will result in even higher costs for residents if the data centers do not pay the difference. In addition to cost, there is a question of whether Maryland’s infrastructure is up to the task.
The other mounting concern around data centers is environmental impact. Each ChatGPT search uses 10 times the electricity than a Google search, and a single conversation with ChatGPT uses as much water as a standard plastic water bottle. The larger and more complex AI uses become, the more energy consumption will be required for each use and the larger the need for more data centers will become.
