Why Data Center Electricity Use "Scares Me to the Bone"

Why Data Center Electricity Use "Scares Me to the Bone"

Author: Strong Towns August 20, 2025 Duration: 44:33
Data centers power everything from cloud computing to artificial intelligence, and they use a massive amount of electricity, sometimes even rivaling major cities. Watchdogs claim that tech companies aren’t absorbing the costs of this electricity use, causing rate payers’ electricity bills to spike as they’re forced to subsidize these data centers. Today, Edward and Abby discuss the far-reaching implications of this kind of land use. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “As electric bills rise, evidence mounts that data centers share blame. States feel pressure to act.” by Marc Levy, AP News (August 2025). Want to bring the conversation to your community? Book Edward as a speaker. Abby Newsham (X/Twitter). Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.   This podcast is made possible by Strong Towns members. Click here to learn more about membership.

Each week, Upzoned takes a single, pressing story from the world of urban development, municipal policy, and community economics and holds it up to the light. Hosts Abby Kinney and Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns, sometimes joined by a guest, don't just skim the headlines. They dig into the nuances of a specific zoning decision, a new infrastructure project, or a shifting demographic trend, asking what it reveals about how we actually build our cities, towns, and neighborhoods. The conversation is grounded in the practical, bottom-up philosophy of the Strong Towns movement, making complex topics accessible and immediately relevant. This isn't a broad news recap; it's a focused, thoughtful dissection for anyone curious about why their community looks and functions the way it does. You'll hear informed debate, critical analysis, and a persistent questioning of conventional wisdom, all aimed at understanding how we can create places that are financially resilient and genuinely enriching for the people who live in them. Tune in for a deeper, more substantive take on the stories that shape our shared spaces.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Upzoned
Podcast Episodes
What Does the Future Look Like for Tiny Towns? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:14
Co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the challenges faced by Victoria, Prince Edward Island, a town in Canada that only has 139 full-time residents. In an attempt to attract new residents, the town has adopted…
How a Popular Development Practice Backfires on Homeowners [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:49
Residents of a neighborhood in Colorado are confronting a $434 million debt incurred by their community’s special taxing district, which was set up by developers to finance the neighborhood’s infrastructure. A group of n…
How To Handle the Looming Shortage of Senior Housing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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The U.S. senior housing market is poised to shift from a surplus to a shortage in the next five years, as the oldest baby boomers turn 80 by 2030. In this Upzoned episode, Abby is joined by Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Stro…
How To Reform Chicago Zoning: The Western Avenue Project [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:04
In this episode, Abby is joined by Chicago aldermen Matt Martin and Andre Vasquez to discusses the Western Avenue corridor study, one of the most ambitious planning efforts Chicago has seen in decades. It includes widesp…
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Duration: 52:04
In 2021, Massachusetts signed a law requiring communities that are served by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) to legalize multifamily housing development near MBTA transit stations. Recently, a state court…
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Duration: 38:32
In this episode of Upzoned, host Abby Newsham is joined by Kevin Klinkenberg, an urban designer, planner and executive director of a place management organization. They discuss how a middle-class life — especially homeow…
Motivated Reasoning: The Psychology Behind Big Municipal Projects [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:33
In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn talk about satellite communities — towns that are developed a distance away from existing urbanized areas. They also discuss the psychological phenomena…
Urban Forests Are the Stroads of Urban Environmental Policy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:41
Canada needs an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030, and that means Canadian cities — as well as many others throughout North America — are facing the challenge of building more housing without wasting natural r…