Servers do the computing. Electrical systems deliver and condition power. Cooling systems move heat away. Networks move data. A campus can contain several buildings built in phases, so one announcement is not automatically one operating facility.
One site can produce several different counts
A project is a development effort. A campus is a site that may contain several buildings. A building is one physical structure. An operating facility is a building or bounded site supported as operating. A provider presence can be only a tenant suite inside someone else’s facility.
Those units can overlap. Adding them together double-counts the same physical place. That is why DataCenterData keeps its record units and counting rules visible.
Power and energy are not the same number
A megawatt (MW) is a rate of power at a moment. A megawatt-hour (MWh) is energy used over time. A utility-service request, contracted capacity, anticipated site demand, critical IT load, backup-generator rating and measured grid load are different measurements. They should not be silently substituted or added.
Power reaches the computing equipment through substations, transformers, switchgear and power-conditioning equipment. Some electricity also runs cooling and other support systems. Power usage effectiveness, or PUE, compares total facility energy with IT-equipment energy; it does not reveal a site’s total electricity use by itself. For national context, see the U.S. Department of Energy data-center resource hub.
Cooling moves heat; the water result depends on the design
Computers turn most of the electricity they use into heat. Air cooling, direct-to-chip liquid cooling and immersion cooling move that heat in different ways. Heat can ultimately be rejected with dry coolers, chillers, cooling towers or a combination.
“Closed loop” usually describes recirculation inside part of the system. It does not, by itself, prove zero withdrawal or zero consumption. Withdrawal, consumption, discharge, make-up water, potable water, reclaimed water and avoided potable use are separate measures. Climate, grid mix, server efficiency, utilization and cooling design all affect the result; Berkeley Lab’s water-use review explains why there is no single universal number.
Open the cooling and water evidence →
A project moves through stages
Announced means someone described a plan. Proposed means review or approval is still pending. Approved means a named approval exists, not that construction began. Construction requires evidence of physical work. Operating requires evidence that the facility or a defined phase entered service. Withdrawn, expired and closed projects stay in the history instead of disappearing.
Jobs, taxes and incentives need denominators
Peak construction workers, construction job-years, permanent employees and contractors are different quantities. Announced investment is not completed investment. A tax exemption, abatement, payment in lieu of taxes, special charge and gross tax receipt affect different ledgers. A useful local-outcome claim states the place, period, payer, recipient and whether the figure is authorized, promised, paid or observed.
Read the jobs brief → · Read the incentives brief → · Read the ratepayer brief →
How to read a DataCenterData claim
- Read the exact statement and who made it.
- Check the unit, place, scope and date.
- Open the cited source and its page, clause or record locator.
- Read what the source supports—and what remains unknown.
- Check the verdict date and visible correction history.
A missing operating record does not prove that a site is closed. A permit does not prove use. A company announcement proves that the company made the statement, not that the future outcome has occurred.
Browse the claim ledger → · See corrections and lifecycle changes →