To the editor:
Alexandrians have heavily opposed the proposed data center and substation construction on Edsall Road. Mayor Alyia Gaskins and the rest of City Council have likewise reflected such resistance and done what they can to hopefully influence the decision to cancel it, despite the construction technically being located just beyond city limits.
The controversy around this data center is a good reminder that the rising price of energy bills can and needs to be addressed. As Dominion Energy builds more infrastructure – the potential Edsall Road substation, for example – it hands over the price to Alexandria’s families, increasing energy bills that are already too high, and this data center is an example of that.
The solution to reducing energy bills, regardless of the outcome of the data center, is turning to energy appliances that reduce peak demand on the grid – meaning that Dominion won’t have to build more stuff and then charge its ratepayers for it.
We do this by installing heat pumps, which use the same tech as your fridge; by installing small batteries in our homes which feed energy back into the grid; and by installing home solar. All of these reduce demand on the grid and avoid rising bills.
It is imperative that Council works to support and subsidize this technology to lower costs for Alexandrians. These technologies are mentioned and supported in the Energy and Climate Change Action Plan, but we as a community need to push further and get as serious about these money-saving technologies as we are about stopping this data center.
-Noah Sternberg, Alexandria
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