Datacenter Discussion @ Columbia County Commission 2026-07-23 | WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

“Data Center Discussion” is the first item on the agenda for the Columbia County Commission meeting,

5:30 PM, Thursday, July 23, 2026, at the School Board Administrative Complex, 372 West Duval Street, Lake City, FL 32055

The board packet includes 215 pages of related materials, all from Datacenter supporters, except for one by 1000 Friends of Florida. Some of them try to conflate hyper-scale AI datacenters with search and cloud datacenters, while others argue that the growth in AI is inevitable so just go along to get along.

Hint: it’s not inevitable. It’s a bubble that will pop, more likely sooner than later.

Datacenter Discussion @ Columbia County Commission, 5:30 PM, Thur4sday, 2026-07-23, 372 W Duval Street, Lake City, FL

There are several growth projection graphs, all of them wrong.

This one is clearly wrong at first glance, because its forward projection is linear: a straight line.

Graph: Electricity Consumption at U.S. Data Centers is Expected to More Than Double by 2030 Total electricity consumption by U.S. data centers (terawatt-hours), 2026-01-01 –1000 Friends of Florida
PDF

This graph is wrong because it projects a smooth curve. Sure, an exponential curve could be closer to right. See growth curves of the Internet, or of adoption of solar power, smartphones, or PCs.

But in all those historical examples, the exponential growth eventually looked more like an S-curve.

Also note that even if the amount of data produced does grow exponentially, that doesn’t mean that power use or datacenter numbers or sizes must grow like that.

The bubble will pop, sooner, or later, for one or both of two reasons:

Investors will wise up that AI companies have grossly oversold the benefits of their products, and they are failing to produce profits
Someone, probably in China, will leapfrog the current crude stack-computers-in-a-warehouse approach with faster, cheaper, and smaller methods.

Graph: Global data created annually in zettabytes, 2024-01-01 –ULI Americas Data Center Product Council
PDF

This graph, like the first, attempt to impose a linear projection on a phenomenon that will not be linear. Witness Georgia Power this year suddently requesting the Georgia PSC to approve as much new power as almost all of its current generation capacity. That’s not linear, and it’s not exponential: it’s jerk.

Graph: Growing global data center demand in gigawatts, 2024-01-01 –ULI Americas Data Center Product Council
PDF

This graph is the most realistic, in using neither linear nor exponential curves. It even includes the sudden jerk upwards right now in energy use.

How realistic it is as a projection remains to be seen. It’s got some chance, because it plays it safe and only goes forward a few years.

Graph: Figure 3: Cumulative Counts of New Large Load Tariffs by Customer Protection Measures, by Active Year, 2026-05-01 –Energy+Environmental Economics
PDF

The datacenter documents in the board packet are:

Data Center Community Impact Resources by anonymous,

Data Center Community Impact Resources
PDF
a slide about HOW DATA CENTERS SUPPORT U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY that includes everything except mom and apple pie,

HOW DATA CENTERS SUPPORT U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY
PDF
Economic Contributions of Data Centers in the United States 2023 – 2024, 2026-05-01 by The Data Center Coalition The Data Center Coalition

Economic Contributions of Data Centers in the United States 2023 – 2024, 2026-05-01 –The Data Center Coalition
PDF
The Truth about Data Centers, by DataBank Data Center Evolved

The Truth about Data Centers –DataBank Data Center Evolved
PDF
U.S. Data Centers and Responsible Energy Use by Data Center Coalition

U.S. Data Centers and Responsible Energy Use –Data Center Coalition
PDF
An Energy System in Transition: New Report Identifies the 5 Key Drivers of U.S. Electricity Prices –Data Center Coalition

An Energy System in Transition: New Report Identifies the 5 Key Drivers of U.S. Electricity Prices –Data Center Coalition
PDF
Potential Impacts of Data Center Development on Florida Communities: Issues for State and Local Policymakers, 2026-01-01 by 1000 Friends of Florida

Potential Impacts of Data Center Development on Florida Communities: Issues for State and Local Policymakers, 2026-01-01 –1000 Friends of Florida
PDF
FPL Large Load Framework, 2026-06-01 by FPL

FPL Large Load Framework, 2026-06-01 –FPL
PDF
Land Use Categories and Zoning Districts Allowing Large-Scale Data Centers, 2026-04-16 –City of Jacksonville Planning Department

Land Use Categories and Zoning Districts Allowing Large-Scale Data Centers, 2026-04-16 –City of Jacksonville Planning Department
PDF
Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 484: An act relating to data centers; creating s. 163.326, F.S.; providing….

Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 484: An act relating to data centers; creating s. 163.326, F.S.; providing….
PDF
Local Guidelines for Data Center Development, 2024-01-01 by ULI Americas Data Center Product Council

Local Guidelines for Data Center Development, 2024-01-01 –ULI Americas Data Center Product Council
PDF
Understanding the Drivers of Rising Electricity Rates and the Role of Data Centers, 2026-05-01 by Energy+Environmental Economics

Understanding the Drivers of Rising Electricity Rates and the Role of Data Centers, 2026-05-01 –Energy+Environmental Economics
PDF

Images of each of the 223 pages of the board packet are below.

But not on facebook, which has an 80-image limit.

Agenda: (1) Data Center Discussion (p.1)
PDF

For much more about datacenters, see:

https://wwals.net/issues/datacenter

There are more images below.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

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