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Plain-English guides to how data centers actually work.
A power plant has had a federal interconnection process for two decades. A gigawatt data center never did. In 2026 FERC ordered all six regional grid operators to invent one, and their answers, from MISO's non-firm service to PJM's curtail-first rule, will decide which campuses get power in 2027.
Servers used to be written off after three years. Now hyperscalers stretch them to six while AI chips age out in two. What actually happens when a machine leaves the rack, and where millions of tonnes of hardware go next.
Every data center brags about its PUE, but the industry average hasn't budged in six years. Here's how the big efficiency metrics actually work, how they get gamed, and what to look for in a company's claims.
Server halls, diesel farms, mantraps, and rooms where the internet physically connects to itself: a plain-English walk through the buildings behind the cloud.