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Data Centers - Well done leadership by Caroline Gleich and my thoughts on the topic - 1st in a series.

Daniel Keiley - North American Board Certified Clean Energy Expert.
Professional Skier - PSIA, USSA, and AIARE Certified with over 40 years of experience.
Retired Aerospace Engineer.
Lifelong outdoors person and environmentalist.

Here in Utah, Caroline Gleich, a recent candidate for senator and political activist, has emerged as our leader on this subject. I’ve listened to her posts, reviewed all her points, fact-checked, and delved into the science. After drafting my own ideas on the subject, I reviewed Caroline’s presentations and chose to acknowledge her contributions. My publications on Facebook, LinkedIn, and local media will credit her while sharing my own knowledge, experiences, and technical expertise.

The first two subjects I’d like to speak to are jobs and energy. Stay tuned for more in the future.

Jobs:

For the past three decades, the early versions of data centers were in the works. “Server farms,” as they are commonly called. My home state of Washington was an ideal location due to its affordable hydroelectric power and the fact that two-thirds of the state was rural. Cheap land and labor were readily available in the communities where these plants were constructed.

After the construction phase, reality set in. There were no parking lots filled with the automobiles of daily workers. These facilities require very small staffs for operation and maintenance. Rural youth who had trained in computer technology and electronics at colleges and tech schools, anticipating jobs close to home, were left unemployed in their home communities. These communities felt deceived.

Data centers are a scaled-up version with the same unfortunate reality attached.

Read the book, or check out the summary of “What’s the Matter With Kansas” by Thomas Frank, published in 2004. https://tcfrank.com/product/whats-the-matter-with-kansas/

Thankfully, public awareness of “Power Grabs-Land Grabs” has grown in the last few decades. Congratulations citizens of Box Elder County Utah for standing up for your rights.

Clean energy has since created far more jobs in Washington, a topic for a future writing.

2) Power and Energy, my personal area of expertise:

Computers are powerful tools, but they will never be able to create the power they need to run. Our personal laptops are highly efficient in their use of electrical power, as are larger computers. That said, even with efficient electronics, scaling up to the level of a data center consumes energy at unprecedented levels.

The use of natural gas to power the Stratos Data Center in Box Elder County Utah using the Ruby Pipeline:

This conversation is worthy of a PhD thesis and certainly an expert is out there that could share more on this.

Here is a short version: Gas is a fossil fuel and fossil fuels are on their way out. Gas does indeed burn “cleaner” than other fossil fuels but still emits CO2. Drilling operations, pipelines, and compressor stations every 100 miles along the pipeline are substantial projects with high carbon footprints both in their construction and operation. Gas leakage is known to be extremely problematic worldwide in the pipelines, pump stations, and at the well heads. Satellites are in orbit as I write with instrumentation seeking to quantify the extent of this problem.��The future of natural gas is shaping up like this:

A. Harvest it and burn it on site. The resultant CO2 is less harmful than the gas leaking into the atmosphere. Gas turbine generators convert this otherwise escaped gas into electrical power that can be added to the existing grid. Some additional power lines will be required, a far lesser evil than more pipelines.

B. Keep it in the ground. Seal the gas off at its source, and don’t drill for it in the first place.

3) Final thoughts for today:

Search the internet for more insight and confirmation on what’s covered here. Take a science class at your local educational institution on energy, environment, biology, agriculture, or related politics and business. Attend community meetings, be engaged, and become knowledgeable in these critical subjects.

Look for my future blogs on: Land use by Data Centers. On-site wind and solar power for Data Centers. Water use by Data Centers, and the ultimate purpose of Data Centers.

May 5, 2026. Officials ignored public input. Data Centers get go-ahead vote.

This week has been incredibly eventful, and it’s only Tuesday!

Today, a rain delay halted my current project. Home at my desk I delved into the data center public meetings and vote that took place last night here in Utah. I was invited to and attended an online meeting with Utah Senator John Curtis while the Box Elder public meeting on Data Centers was in session. It is interesting that these two meetings, overlapping in content, were held at the same time.

The meeting I was in, and the Box Elder meeting, both headed down strange paths. This this topic has been front and center in the media for weeks. Officials ignored public input and gave the project a go vote.

During the month of April, also known as Earth Month, I attended over a dozen public meetings in Utah. I spoke at two of these meetings. The proposed data centers were a hot topic. Water and power in general were a big driver for holding these meetings. In all of these meetings, no engineer or scientist representing the data center projects was present to address questions. No independent unbiased expert on air, power, or water was ever asked to weigh in, other than my brief time with the microphone.

For example: the use of closed-loop cooling systems, that use minimal water, versus cheaper evaporative cooling systems, that use thousands of gallons per day was not discussed.

During my decades in aerospace, engineering peer review on decisions like this was the norm.

Technical peer review and public transparency are not being practiced here.

Most of the electricity in Utah today comes from coal and gas. Utah is not an appropriate location, other parts of the US are far better suited, for heavy energy consuming projects like data centers, if the damn things are really necessary at all.

We are witnessing unaccountable leadership. When a public infrastructure project is required, it is imperative for it to be planned and implemented in a rational scientific way, with public involvement at every step.

Citizens of Utah, please do your homework and get involved!

Sincerely,
Daniel Keiley
Solar advocate and energy consultant - North American Board Certified.
Aerospace Engineer - retired.
Sustainability advocate and volunteer. Lifelong bicycle commuter.
Certified Professional Ski Instructor.
425-749-1469
[email protected]
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielkeiley/

Final thoughts on Earth Day & Earth Month, April 2026.
My first real job out of high school was recovering and recycling packing material for a moving & storage company in my home town. The manager told me that the material that I recovered covered my wages.
My younger brother took a job managing a can and bottle recycling center at a Texaco gas station. His wages were more than paid for by the same accounting.
The world is more complex today. This April I attended meetings, spoke, wrote, listened and engaged in sustainability more than ever. More on that in the future.
An unplanned project dropped in my lap. Four days of physical labor (I relished every minute) recovering over 3000lbs of used building material. Most of the material I donated to a non-profit trail building organization here in the Ogden area.
Thanks Ben, Ron, Tom & Jinger for your contributions and support.
Photo 1. First days material recovery, about 20% of the total haul.
Photo 2. 2nd load to a friend in Huntsville for his project.

On April 22, 1970, I managed to finish my track workout on time. Most days I was the last athlete to finish my workout, being dedicated and OCD about technique. The first Earth Day Rallies were being held all over the US. One was proudly hosted by my high school in Edmonds, Washington and I was honored to be in attendance.

Historical narrative:
"The first Earth Day, held on April 22, 1970, was attended by over 20 million Americans—representing 10% of the U.S. population—to protest against industrial pollution, oil spills, and environmental degradation. Organized by Senator Ga***rd Nelson and activist Denis Hayes, this grassroots, bipartisan event united diverse groups, igniting the modern environmental movement and leading to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and landmark legislation such as the Clean Air Act."

56 years later, the Earth’s population has more than doubled, the consumption of fossil fuels has continued to rise, and our air, land and water resources are facing unprecedented stress.

We know what we need to do. I've had a full two weeks of sustainability and environmental related activity. For a snippet of what I am up to, see my recent post on Linkedin.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielkeiley/

Fine people and a wonderful organization. They were kind enough to invite me to the ribbon cutting, even though I studied and certified in efficient clean energy elsewhere. Contact me or Weber State for efficiency and clean energy in your home or business. Prosolardan on Facebook or gmail.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DW4Dpd_jU2Y/

This is The Weber State University Sustainability House. This is a drop in resource to learn about making your home energy efficient and how to incorporate sustainable energy. Stop in and visit with the staff.

An early end to the 2025-26 Ski Season. I am ramping up my activities in sustainability and clean energy. Stay tuned, its getting interesting.