Methodology
The impact score
Every facility carries a 0–100 impact score: a transparent, rule-based blend of five factors. Each factor only counts when the underlying figure is disclosed — we never estimate a number to fill a gap, so a facility with little public data simply scores lower.
| Factor | Weight | How it's scored |
|---|---|---|
| Power capacity | 40% | Scales with MW, maxing out at 1,000 MW. |
| Water cooling | 20% | Based on the reported cooling source: water-cooled full, hybrid half, immersion a quarter, air none. |
| Backup generators | 15% | Scales with generator count, maxing out at 50. |
| Proximity to people & water | 15% | Up to 10 points for residents within 3 miles (full at 25,000+), and up to 5 for sitting within 1 mile of a major river or lake (fading to 0 at 5 miles). Location-based, so proposed projects are scored on their potential impact too. |
| Project status | 10% | Operating and contested projects rank highest; cancelled lowest. |
Plain-English conversions
- Power → homes. We use roughly 750 average US homes per megawatt of capacity, so a 500 MW campus is described as powering ≈ 375,000 homes.
- Water → Olympic pools. Where annual water use is disclosed, we divide by 660,000 gallons (one regulation Olympic pool).
Where the data comes from
Facilities are compiled from public records and cited sources, including the FracTracker Alliance U.S. Data Centers Tracker and OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed ODbL). The two largely complement each other: FracTracker tracks what is proposed and contested, while OpenStreetMap maps what is already built. Every facility page lists its sources, and anyone can report an error.
Proximity uses US Census 2020 population by block group and Natural Earth's 1:10m map of major rivers and lakes (both public domain). Smaller streams aren't included, so water distances reflect major waterways only.