Experts explain data center expansion and community impacts in the Lehigh Valley

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — As demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence grows, data centers are becoming one of the Lehigh Valley’s most consequential and least understood forms of development.

That expanding footprint was the focus of a webinar Monday that brought together regional planners, engineers and industry leaders to explain how data centers operate and what their growth could mean for local communities.

The discussion came amid intense debate and community backlash over a proposed 5-million-square-foot data center near Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township.

Titled “Behind the Cloud: Data Centers, Infrastructure, and Community Impact,” the session held by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce offered an overview of data centers and the infrastructure that supports them, including electricity demand, water use and long-term land planning.

Panelists said that while data centers can bring significant economic development, including job creation, they also pose distinct planning and environmental challenges — issues now under scrutiny as the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and residents review proposals such as the Atlas Data Center Campus.

The panel included Jill Seitz, chief community and regional planner for the LVPC; Mike Gibson, business development manager with Ondra-Huyett Associates; and Alex Brammer, senior vice president of Bitfarms, a global digital infrastructure company.

The discussion was moderated by Tori Morgan, director of funding, regulatory relations and compliance at Entech Engineering.

What is a data center?

The webinar broke down a topic that often feels opaque to the public, beginning with a basic question: What exactly is a data center?

Seitz described data centers as industrial facilities designed to store and process digital information.

While they’re not exactly top of mind, they are the backbone behind everyday online activity, from streaming movies to checking bank accounts, she said.

The expectation that information be transmitted in fractions of a second has driven rapid growth in the sector, particularly in regions such as the Lehigh Valley that have strong electric infrastructure, access to fiber networks and relatively affordable land.

Brammer emphasized that not all data centers are alike, and distinguished between traditional cloud or storage facilities and newer, high-density centers designed for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

Older "legacy" data centers typically have lower power density per square foot and minimal on-site labor needs, relying heavily on remote monitoring and maintenance, he said.

AI-focused facilities, by contrast, are far more power-intensive and require different technologies and staffing models.

Those higher-density centers tend to generate more direct and indirect employment through on-site labor and specialized contractors, he said.

Data centers already are here

Panelists said the Lehigh Valley already has several smaller data centers, including facilities that lease server space to businesses.

What is new, Seitz said, is the scale of recent proposals, particularly “hyperscale” developments that cluster multiple large buildings on a single site.

Environmental considerations, especially water and energy use, were central to the discussion.

Water consumption can vary widely depending on a data center’s cooling system, Gibson said, and should be among the first factors companies evaluate when siting new facilities.

Closed-loop systems, which recirculate liquid and require only periodic refilling, are generally preferred by planners and communities.

Open systems, which consume significantly more water, have drawn the most criticism and may be inappropriate in areas without robust water infrastructure.

Many operators are moving toward cooling technologies that dramatically reduce water use compared to traditional evaporative systems, he said.

And Pennsylvania's climate allows for less water-intensive methods such as using outside air during colder months.

“We can use cooling techniques here that are less impactful on the local water table,” Brammer said.

Panelists also stressed the importance of planning for worst-case scenarios, including drought conditions — a timely concern as the Lehigh Valley remains under moderate to severe drought classifications by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Energy demand

Panelists framed high energy demand from data centers as a result of growing computational needs rather than inefficiency.

Brammer said nearly all electricity consumed by a data center goes toward processing data, and while servers have become dramatically more efficient, overall demand continues to rise.

Gibson said electricity is typically the largest operating expense for data center owners, creating strong incentives to improve efficiency.

As facilities scale up, the panelists said, developers increasingly coordinate with utilities and regulators to maintain grid reliability, including using backup generation that can reduce demand during peak periods.

"I remember a time systems were far less efficient,” Brammer said.

"It’s far improved but we’re demanding so much more that the load is increasing strictly because the number of servers is increasing.

"This is the biggest expense for data center operators... and they understand how to continually improve upon technology to reduce the electric load for the computation purposes of a data center.”

What goes into site selection?

Panelists agreed that access to power is the primary driver of site selection, along with proximity to fiber networks and land that minimizes conflicts with residential neighborhoods.

In that regard, Gibson cautioned that data centers are not speculative developments; operators typically spend many years planning and do not build without a committed tenant or owner-operator.

For local governments, Seitz said evaluating appropriateness for data centers means identifying areas that can accommodate such facilities while avoiding floodplains, environmentally sensitive land and locations with limited water resources.

Emergency services capacity and the ability of first responders to serve large-scale industrial facilities also should be considered, she said.

Wrapping up the discussion, panelists said community engagement on data centers is most effective when it is informed and focused on the specifics of a proposal rather than generalized fears.

Seitz encouraged residents to attend meetings, ask clear questions and understand the legal framework governing land use.

She said municipalities can't exclude specific land use outright but can adopt zoning criteria to address concerns such as farmland preservation, environmental protection and infrastructure impacts.

She also announced that LVPC will hold a community training at noon Feb. 11 (and again at 6 p.m. Feb. 11) on its New and Emerging Industrial Land Use Guide.

The in-person training is specifically designed to support municipalities through planning for industrial land uses, including data centers.