A 100MW Data Center's Real Ledger: 850 Construction Workers, 100-200 Permanent Jobs, and One Pool of Water
yvonnalynn · x · 2026-09-04
In a debate over whether data centers benefit rural communities, yvonnalynn answered critics with specific numbers:
- Jobs: a 100MW hyperscale campus needs 850 construction workers for 18-36 months, then only 100-200 permanent ops roles (Uptime Institute figures). The real case is the tax base: these campuses carry massive assessed value, giving the highest revenue-per-permanent-employee of any land use — Culpeper County, VA (pop. 52k) actively recruits them for exactly that.
- Water: true closed-loop cooling is a one-time fill of 615k gallons (one pool), sealed and recirculated; QTS has built this way since 2019 and estimates it saves 300M gallons/year vs. evaporative cooling. The "millions per year" figure belongs to evaporative systems.
- She notes "zero resource strain" is a bar nothing clears — not farms, factories, or subdivisions — and planning approval exists precisely to verify adequate grid and water capacity.
Related event: Industry Veterans Push Back on Data Center Critics With Water and Jobs Data(2 posts)→
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