I live just west of Bowling Green and am seeing in real time the construction of the 16-inch natural gas lines for the Meta Bowling Green data center. This reality – which includes flagmen and large construction equipment – has put into question the accuracy, and shall I say the honesty, of the following statement from Meta’s website. “Meta has worked closely with the Toledo Edison Company … to match this data center’s electricity use with 100% clean and renewable energy.”
Am I missing something? To the casual reader, it would appear that the energy that Meta plans of use will have no negative effect on the environment. No harm, no foul.
But as I see it, no matter how they might slice and dice it with carbon offsets credits and such, the burning of natural gas is not clean and renewable. In addition, it produces greenhouse gases, and therefore, doesn’t have a neutral effect on the environment as their statement suggests.
As we consume more and more energy, the only path to environmental sustainability is not in the smoke and mirrors approach that is so often used by the fossil fuel industry.
This letter to the editor is not intended to be a statement against data centers. I am only pointing out that as decisions like these are made, they must be done using accurate and unbiased information.
