Microsoft expands ‘biomimicry’ at data centers as local resistance grows

San Antonio City Councilmember Ric Galvan told The Verge that when data centers first came to his city in the 2000s, they looked like relatively unassuming office buildings. That has changed as facilities have grown into “hyperscale” campuses spanning millions of square feet and housing physical infrastructure for AI. His roughly 55-square-mile district now has more than a dozen data centers, and he expects the number to reach about 20 in the next few years if proposed projects are completed.

Galvan said the data centers are clustered along two main roads, concentrating the effects in the same neighborhoods. Residents deal with traffic and tree-cutting during construction, then constant bright lights and noise once the facilities operate. Much of the area was once green fields, he said, allowing residents to feel close to nature. “That [feeling] gets taken away pretty quickly when you make a gigantic data center,” he said.

Across the US, more communities are opposing large data warehouses, protesting potential effects on quality of life, pollution, water and electricity bills, according to The Verge. Tech companies have responded with pledges to pay for infrastructure upgrades in local water and power systems. Microsoft is taking an additional approach.

Microsoft describes biomimicry as “blending our datacenters into the natural landscape” to “create resilient ecosystems that support biodiversity, strengthen community ties, and help our datacenters become better neighbors.” The company wants to make its data centers greener with more on-site gardens and native trees, and it promises to invest in projects that repair damaged ecosystems where it operates. Microsoft says these efforts can limit problems such as noise pollution and the loss of green space.

Advocates and sustainability experts told The Verge that the gesture is a nice one. Microsoft has tried to distinguish itself from rivals by engaging more with communities where it builds. The strategy has eased some local concerns, depending on whom you ask. But the data centers are expanding so quickly that they have also razed thousands of trees, and Microsoft’s greenhouse gas emissions are growing with AI’s energy demands. Advocates and residents near the data centers want the company to do more to limit its broader impact on communities and the environment.

Galvan said Microsoft may be trying to cover its bases, but added that would be fine if the company and other operators actually address concerns residents have raised for years about pollution, water use and destruction of natural green spaces. Microsoft has operated data centers in the Greater San Antonio area for almost a decade and is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build several more. In 2022, the company upset residents when it cut down more than 2,600 trees across a 33-acre expanse to build a data center. That, along with Microsoft’s requests for a zoning change and a tax incentive, was a major controversy, Galvan said.

“We’re very proud of our trees here,” Galvan said, noting that the tree canopy also helps mitigate heat, a growing problem in Texas. “So it was very frustrating to see that completely decimated.” Microsoft spokesperson Jennifer Lyons said in an email that the company is “investing in enhancement projects that includes 400+ acres of woodland and pollinator prairie restoration” in San Antonio, with a goal of leaving “land more productive than we received it.”

Microsoft says it has more than 300 data centers in more than 34 countries and began biomimicry projects at a data center in the Netherlands in 2022. It now plans to bring “nature-inspired solutions to restore and enhance natural ecosystems” to more than 20 sites in the US and Germany, and says it will do the same for all new projects in the US and “a growing number around the world.” The company says it is customizing the solutions to fit local habitats and enhance what is already there.