Panelists Urge Data Center Companies to Change their Attitude Toward Public
Concerns around AI, a lack of transparency from data center companies, and dismissive nature toward public concerns threaten the industry, panelists argue.
WASHINGTON, April 23, 2026 – Three panelists who supply various aspects of data centers from cooling systems to server racks said hyperscalers weren’t doing enough to educate and dissuade public concern.
At a panel discussion at Data Center World on Tuesday, panelists presented their case for why it is important to engage communities and be fully transparent of the impacts that may come from data centers.
“When you can position [data centers] as good for the communities, good for the planet, as well as good for the markets and good for the people, and that's, that's really where it is.” said Austin Domenici, general manager of Johnson Controls, an energy efficiency and decarbonization technology company.
Josh Claman, CEO of Accelsius, a supplier of liquid cooling for data centers, said that fears over AI are driving some of the discord over data centers. Claman noted that the industry as a whole should speak better on how data centers power medical research and other life changing developments that will not only benefit local communities but the country as a whole.
In addition, Claman said that companies should agree that job displacement will occur from AI while also adding high paid skilled labor jobs to support data centers both short term for construction and long term as electricians and other technical staff.
“A moderate sized data center would employ about 50. Those are high paying jobs…to build [a] mid-size or large data center may take 1000 [people],” Claman said “Certainly for the nation, I think we're 140,000 electricians short. What that means is this problem, we have a gap.”
While each panelist spoke on how their company's technology increased efficiency and reduced the use of resources like water and power, they all agreed that there’s been a lack of public education and clear explanation of how new technologies make data centers less of a concern for the public.
“We can take our technical concepts and all this fun stuff that we all love and work on seem simple and make them understandable. We need to be able to explain it in a way that Farmer John can understand.” said Jason Chantelau, product manager for Legrand, a data center product development company.
Domenici concluded that technological solutions will make a big difference on the ground and encourage communities to build trust with neighboring data centers.
“If you're developing solutions that use less power, use less water, make less noise, it's good business for us so that's good business,” Domenici said.
Member discussion