“Environmentally, I think it’s going to be catastrophic.” That’s what resident Carmen Rampersad told the BBC about the proposed data centre near her home on the outskirts of London. The developers are eyeing up what is known as ‘London’s green belt’, an 85-acre green space that’s a rarity near the UK’s capital city.
Rampersad took part in a protest against the data centre plans along with other members of her community. Whether the protest succeeds in blocking the data centre is yet to be seen. But, even if this particular data centre doesn’t go ahead, pressure on communities remains. The current AI hype is driving a massive expansion in computing power, with new data centres being built across the globe. How this affects local residents and the environment is rarely a consideration.
What if we had more power than just protesting, but could instead take control of the very data centres that we use? Giving locals authority over data centre construction and governance means communities could benefit from their data centre neighbours. We dug into what it would take for data centres to serve, rather than harm, our communities.
Introducing community-owned data centres
At RESET, we’ve long been writing about how data centres must improve. From re-using waste heat to refurbishing servers (and using renewable energy as a bare minimum), we know what companies could do to make their data centres more sustainable. But, as citizens, could we rewrite the rulebook on our own terms and take data centres into our own hands? This is known as a community-owned data centre. In the same way that people band together to power their homes via solar panels or wind turbines, a community-owned data centre would see people collaborate on building the servers needed to power their internet use.
What else does a community-owned data centre entail? We put the question to Rainer Rehak, Research Associate at the Weizenbaum Institute. He told us that, “There are many different understandings [of what a community-owned data centre is] in terms of governance, ownership and customer in- or exclusion.” Some believe that the state cannot be involved, others see a municipal data centre run for citizens as ‘community-owned’. For some, it might be enough that a data centre is non-profit, while others might require a community-owned data centre to be run as a collective. “The concept of community-owned data centres is not a fixed term,” Rehak explains.
Dr André Ullrich, head of the research group ‘Digitalisation, Sustainability and Participation’ at the Weizenbaum Institute, agrees that there is a “conceptual vagueness” when it comes to community-owned data centres. However, they would definitely be “locally rooted” and likely use a democratic governance model to manage the building, hardware, support systems and software. They would also mimic the legal and governance structures of cooperatives and be grounded in the principles of commons (i.e. the self-governance of resources by the community that uses them).
The Weizenbaum Institute held a workshop on community-owned data centres. Participants drew this image to represent the concept of a community-owned data centre. Community-owned data centres in action
Community-owned data centres might seem like a new idea. But in Germany, the concept dates back to 1963, when the Gesellschaft für automatische Datenverarbeitung (GAD) was founded. GAD was the first cooperative data processing centre, which ran data centres for cooperative banks in Germany from its inception until 2015.
Another example from Germany is the municipality-owned telecommunications provider Wobcom, which is operated by the city of Wolfsburg and serves both local citizens and the wider region. However, Ullrich points out that, while the set-up comes close to a community-owned digital service, as it’s not run by a private company, it doesn’t meet the criteria that “the power should be with the people running, maintaining and using the data centre”.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, Nubo Cooperative offers an email service, cloud storage, digital calendar and domain name, all run on local, Nubo-owned servers. When you purchase any of these services, you become a member of Nubo and can participate in decision-making as part of the cooperative. “This allows users to place trust in the structure that manages the services,” Nubo writes on its website. It compares this to a private company, where “the lack of transparency makes trust impossible”. The cooperative commits to allocating profits to achieve social objectives rather than using them to enrich shareholders.
While not currently owned by its users, Swiss data centre Infomaniak is set up as a workers’ cooperative. As well as the employee-ownership model, Infomaniak heats 6000 households year-round and reuses 100 percent of the energy it consumes. In the future, Infomaniak might even become a community-owned data centre; they write on their website that, “Eventually, our customers will be able to take ownership of some parts of the business too.”
Would community ownership change attitudes to data centres?
A few years ago, many people didn’t know what data centres were. But thanks to the AI boom, awareness of data centres—and the damage they can do—is rising. Across the world, citizens are protesting data centres that infringe upon their green space, water resources or clean air. In Memphis, Elon Musk’s xAI data centre is putting locals’ health at risk with its smog-releasing generators. Big Tech companies are increasingly choosing drought-hit areas for their latest data centre builds. With banners, sit-ins, petitions and protests, locals are fighting back.
Is it possible to undo the bad rep of data centres with community-owned models? According to Rehak, “If the local community has a say in running data centres, there is a chance of integration, coexistence and benefits for citizens.” These benefits could include using excess heat for saunas or algae farms, or offering discounts for NGOs. Ullrich pointed out that, “It depends on the specific motives [of the community].” If they want to preserve a specific green space, they wouldn’t necessarily change their minds just because they could own the data centre. But in other cases, “providing those affected by a data centre with a say in decisions on water consumption, noise, build and set-up could make a difference”.
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Digital sovereignty and data ownership
Community-owned data centres represent more than taking land ownership back from Big Tech. These systems also allow citizens sovereignty over their digital lives. As Ullrich puts it, “Basic digital services should be treated like public utilities and therefore be governed and regulated as such.” Relying on profit-driven Big Tech companies to manage and control our data puts us at risk of outages, data loss and invasion of privacy. For example, a Meta outage in 2021 put WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram out of action for six hours. In countries where these remain crucial communication channels, citizens were unable to receive Covid-19 updates. “The goal should be a ‘democratisation of everything’,” Ullrich continues, “in which technology enables a more equitable distribution of power and resources.” Combining community-owned data centres with healthier information ecosystems would be the ultimate way for citizens to control ownership of their communication channels and data alike.
While the services mentioned above set a great example, there is still a long way to go before our digital lives are completely community-owned. Ullrich points out that, “Many of the current economic incentives and market structures support global monopolies [and prioritise profit].” But with damage from data centres an increasing threat to both the climate and citizens, community-owned data centres are a viable solution for a truly sustainable digital future.
