What’s inside Pennsylvania’s data centers?

(WHTM) — People have been hearing a lot about data centers, though very few get to go inside one.

At this one in suburban Harrisburg, it looks just like a nondescript office park from the outside. But inside?

“So when you hear the word cloud, this is what we call the cloud,” said Andy Kochanowski, founder and CEO of Alerify, a data hosting company.

Picture row upon row of metal cages filled with whirring computer equipment, wires and lights. There’s also massive air conditioners cooling the machinery and regulating humidity.

Everything has a backup here: ACs, power, internet and even the data itself.

Ironically, heat is the enemy of something that’s red hot.

“Now we’re at this crossroads,” Kochanowski said. “Unfortunately, as these data centers are coming online, it does require a great amount of power economically.”

Kochanowski said his biggest expense is the electric bill. He wouldn’t say how much, but solar panels on the roof account for about 40% of the facility’s energy.

The forecast though is not so sunny for other data centers.

“We need the additional sources of energy,” said Sen. Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester), who chairs the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

She said she knows AI and data centers are the future, but she fears spikes in energy demands could cause rate hikes for the average customer.

“I am concerned and many are concerned about the energy demand that AI is going to put on an already strained grid,” Comitta said.

Others worry AI will put humans out of work.

Cleveland Cliffs’ CEO recently said a shuttered steel plant in Steelton may be sold to become a data center. Steelworkers aren’t thrilled with that idea.

“The fact that they came in here and didn’t talk to us, didn’t listen to what we had to say and just said, ‘We’re done with you,’ is very hurtful to us,” said Larue Hess, president of Steelworkers Union Local 1688.

More than 500 workers at the Steelton plant lost their jobs last month when it went idle. A data center could never match a steel mill when it comes to employment.

“We have four employees,” Kochanowski said.