County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools To 'Conserve Electricity'
16 215An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: On June 26, the County Manager of Henrico County, Virginia, John Vithoulkas, sent an email to thousands of county employees asking them to help the local government conserve electricity. "Beginning July 1st, the rate we pay for electricity used in all Henrico County government and school facilities will increase dramatically -- by 25%, increasing costs by an estimated $5 million next fiscal year. We anticipate more rate increases for electricity in the years ahead," a copy of the email obtained by 404 Media said (emphasis his).
Henrico County is a community of more than 350,000 people in eastern Virginia just outside of Richmond. It also hosts 37 data centers and there are plans to build 17 more, including plans to convert hundreds of acres of Civil War battlefields into data centers. Thanks to its proximity to DC and vast amounts of land, Henrico County became a data center hub seemingly overnight and its services clients big and small. Meta built a data center there in 2017.
"To mitigate the impact of higher electric costs, I am asking that we, collectively, make slight adjustments to conserve electricity across our individual workspaces," Vithoulkas wrote in the email. "Turn off your lights when leaving your workspace, including when you leave for the day. Turn off your computers/laptops at the end of each workday. If your workspace has windows, adjust the blinds to manage heat from sunlight. Unplug any appliances, chargers, or other electrical items when they are not in use. Please limit use of (or refrain altogether from using) space heaters. A typical space heater alone can cost the county from $150 to $300 per year in electricity costs." "Each dollar we can save by conserving electricity is another dollar the county can reinvest into staff and the services we provide our residents," Vithoulkas email said.
16 comments
Color me surprised... (Score: 5, Insightful)
by FritzTheCat1030 ( 758024 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:05PM (#66216902)
God, the U.S. has become such an absolute fucking clown show.
Re:Color me surprised... (Score: 5, Insightful)
by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:43PM (#66216988)
Yep. Fortunately, the rest of the world has now understood that (which is one of the major accomplishments of Trump, so he has some good effects after all, even if they are not what he intended), and is preparing top do without. The transition will take some time, so it would be nice if the US does not do a total collapse, but a slow slide into the 2nd world. But even if that collapse happens, the rest of the world will be ok.
Kleptocracy (Score: 5, Informative)
by Anonymous Coward ( None ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @06:07PM (#66217450)
Kleptocracy (from Greek words meaning "rule by thieves") is a form of government where corrupt leaders use their power to systematically steal their nation's wealth and natural resources. Instead of serving the public, kleptocrats exploit state institutions to enrich themselves and fund political loyalists.
Key characteristics of a kleptocracy include:
State Capture: Ruling elites place family members, political allies, or opaque businesses in charge of state-owned companies, public contracts, and the judiciary to ensure total control.
Patronage Networks: The vast wealth looted from the public is used to bribe, reward, and maintain the loyalty of the inner circle who keep the leader in power.
Transnational Money Laundering: Kleptocrats rarely keep all their ill-gotten gains at home. They often move stolen funds into foreign democracies with strong rule-of-law to obscure their wealth, using networks of lawyers, accountants, and shell companies.
Social and Economic Devastation: Because state funds are diverted into private pockets, public services like healthcare, education, and infrastructure are routinely decimated.
Re:Color me surprised... (Score: 5, Interesting)
by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:38PM (#66216972)
So long as having the things that everybody needs requires that a whole lot of people work hard, we can't have communism. It will just create widespread poverty like it has every other time it was tried, because it contradicts basic human psychology too strongly.
AFTER we have the level of labor automation that everyone is afraid of, where basically everything is done by robots and there are only enough jobs (of any kind) for only a tiny fraction of the population, something like communism might be sustainable. And even that is a maybe (we have zero examples of this from which to draw a conclusion, so all we can do is speculate).
Re:Color me surprised... (Score: 5, Informative)
by sjames ( 1099 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @03:26PM (#66217220)
It doesn't require nearly as many people working nearly as hard as we have now to provide for everyone.
Re:Color me surprised... (Score: 5, Insightful)
by Brain-Fu ( 1274756 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @04:09PM (#66217294)
But still far too much.
Buildings still need to be built, and its hard work. So is building and maintaining sewer lines, power lines, cell phone networks etc.
Food is still grown by human farmers. A few farmers can make a whole lot of food, but those farmers have to work hard to do it. The same goes for everything else farmed or derived from livestock.
The factories that produce all our consumer trinkets still need a lot of human operators.
The list goes on and on.
Even if we did cease all overproduction and re-organize labor to make only what we need (presumably with extra saved up for emergencies), there would be far too much human labor required for it to be accomplished without paying the laborers in proportion to their effort and the rarity of their skill set. Asking them to put up with that "for the greater good" will result in the exact same consequences we consistently see when we try this (which is to say, failure, starvation, and violence).
Re:Not a bright idea (Score: 5, Insightful)
by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:18PM (#66216932)
The majority of those gun nuts are absolute cowards. All they do is pray daily that someone tries to break in so they can finally shoot them. In reality the murder rate is at a record low https://www.npr.org/2026/06/30... [npr.org] and has been declining since the early 1990s.
If the gun nuts and "don't tread on me" crowd actually cared they would be out protesting against the armed secret police who kidnap people into unmarked vehicles. Isn't that what they've been warning about for years, an overreaching federal government?
It turns out they they can't swallow those boots any harder. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic... [gstatic.com]
Re: Not a bright idea (Score: 5, Informative)
by homerbrew ( 10094532 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @03:42PM (#66217256)
The problem with your argument, that smarter people just stay home, is off base. By NOT protesting and showing your legislators you are against what they are doing, you are instead, sending them the signal that it is OK and to keep doing what they are doing. Sure it is âoesaferâ to stay home, but that doesnâ(TM)t make it âoesafeâ for you when some armed, masked, law enforcement officers are gunning for you, because you just happen to be driving near them (like to pick your kids up).
Transmission lines not power plants (Score: 5, Insightful)
by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:11PM (#66216912)
Henrico county (aka where Richmond Virginia is located) has enough power plants, they are short on transmission lines.
This is a common issue, as it is easier to convince Dominion (or other electrical companies) to build a new power plant, they are revenue generators. Few power plant have lost money. But substations and other transmission costs can be built in the wrong location and cost you more money than they generate.
So transmission lines tend to be looked at as infrastructure that costs you money, especially if it is not near a heavy population center.
Electricity is not free (Score: 5, Insightful)
by jdagius ( 589920 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:16PM (#66216924)
// ... hosts 37 data centers and there are plans to build 17 more ...
I'm confused. Why not let the data centers pay for the electricity they use?
Who would build a data center without some kind of plan for providing funds for energy?
Re:Electricity is not free (Score: 5, Informative)
by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:19PM (#66216934)
I'm confused. Why not let the data centers pay for the electricity they use? Who would build a data center without some kind of plan for providing funds for energy?
That's the problem. They are buying up the energy, and outbidding the schools for it, thus raising the price.
We're being lied to about these data centers (Score: 5, Insightful)
by sizzzzlerz ( 714878 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:16PM (#66216926)
We are always being told by the billionaire tech bros and the county supervisors they pay off to have these monstrosity put in their countie that they won't consume resources nor will electricity rates go up. They're lying as this story points out quite clearly. The already wealthy pocket huge profits while the citizens bear the costs.
Re:We're being lied to about these data centers (Score: 5, Interesting)
by CubicleZombie ( 2590497 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:37PM (#66217100)
My small town planning commission voted for a data center, despite public outcry. Afterwards, one of the member's wife took a job with Amazon corporate and he resigned. They don't even hide it.
I recently got a letter from the water authority that I'm supposed to turn off the sink while I'm brushing my teeth and I'll get fined if I wash my car.
More get-rich-quick nonsense (Score: 5, Insightful)
by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @01:33PM (#66216960)
Strategic investments, like in educating kids? That have positive effect over their whole 45 year work life? Naa, we do not do that. We must make money NOW!
Just charge the data center owners/operators (Score: 5, Interesting)
by Targon ( 17348 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:07PM (#66217040)
Since those data centers are a big reason for the cost of electricity going up, why not just make the data centers pay enough in local taxes to cover the utility price increases for government AND all the "regular" citizens? Give the people a tax cut for the amount they would get as a rebate from charging the data centers for what they are doing to the local populace.
utilities will always stick it to the little guy (Score: 5, Interesting)
by kencurry ( 471519 ) on Tuesday June 30, 2026 @02:21PM (#66217074)
Here in San Diego, where water is a chronic issue, we've all been asked to cut use year over year. But our water bill goes up anyway. Last justification? we don't use enough to justify discounts, so they had to raise our rates!