LOGAN, Utah — A Utah State University physics professor claims the proposed Box Elder County data center could release heat equaling "23 atomic bombs" per day, while possibly raising temperatures throughout the day.
In analysis shared by Grow the Flow, a nonprofit organization aimed at conserving Utah water, Dr. Rob Davies shared how the actual amount of thermal load produced by the data center is nearly twice as much as the project's developer claimed.
According to Energy Performance Solutions, thermal load is defined as "the amount of heat energy added to or removed from a system or object. It is a measure of the heat exchange occurring within a given system."
Davies said that while Bar H Ranch, the 40,000-acre project developer, claims the center would need 9 gigawatts of power to operate, the facility would generate an additional 7-8 gigawatts of waste heat.
Just how big is the proposed Box Elder County data center? This big:
That heat release would equal "23 atomic bombs per day," according to Davies, who added that the number mimics the energy footprint of 40,000 Walmart supercenters.
“The thermal load from the proposed Stratos project is extreme,” Davies said in the report. “There is no way around the physics. This is the energy output of two-and-a-half New York City's poured into a single confined desert basin, in a watershed that's already in crisis. Of course it has effects. One of those effects is this: This facility imposes substantial drying on a watershed and ecosystem already in active collapse.”
Another of the heat effects, Davies claims, would be a rise in temperatures in the Hansel Valley, where the data center is set to be built. The professor said the facility could raise daytime temperatures by 5° Fahrenheit, and up to 12° Fahrenheit in nighttime hours.
Davies' study said a permanent increase in nighttime temperatures would "increase evaporation and drying across the basin."
State agencies start scrutinizing Box Elder County data center project:
On Tuesday, Kevin O'Leary, one of the leaders of the data center project and star of "Shark Tank," played down concerns from those worried about the environment, claiming he is the "only developer of data centers on earth that graduated from environmental studies."
O'Leary added that the project they can" use alternative methods of generating power, like wind, solar and battery technology" — although the plans available to the public so far indicate that it will rely on natural gas from the Ruby Pipeline.
In a mildly surprising development, Bar H Ranch filed notice Wednesday that it would withdraw its water rights application for the project, but still plans to move forward with the facility and resubmit its application at a later time.
