The Santa Barbara Independent republishes stories from CalMatters.org on state and local issues impacting readers in Santa Barbara County.
California residents now pay the highest price for electricity in the continental U.S., state analysts reported last month . Costs have been driven in part by levies to prevent and insure against wildfires , but the analysts anticipate a less conspicuous source of pressure on power bills going forward: growing electricity demand from data centers.
Tucked away in nondescript buildings, data centers store and transmit the contents of the internet. At least one is involved every time you watch a TikTok video or shop on Amazon. But in recent years, artificial intelligence, and especially new general purpose systems like ChatGPT, has caused server farms to multiply.