Cal Poly will host a discussion on the growing demand for data centers and their economic and environmental impacts during its second annual Real Estate Day on Oct. 28. The event will take place from noon to 5 p.m. at Chumash Auditorium.
Local officials, industry experts and Cal Poly faculty will participate in the discussion, with speakers including San Luis Obispo County District 3 Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg and San Luis Obispo Assistant City Manager Scott Collins.
The discussion will draw attention to the potential benefits and drawbacks of data center usage, including economic opportunities, infrastructure requirements and environmental concerns.
Panelists will also discuss the feasibility of developing data centers on the Central Coast, including concerns surrounding water usage and land development.
Gilbert Bareng, CEO of real estate development company Bareng Corporation, is among the event’s featured speakers.
“We don’t want our communities to simply watch the AI revolution happen around them,” Bareng wrote in an email to Mustang News. “We want our students to be part of it — to understand the technology, help shape its development with a good moral foundation and discover how it can improve people’s lives.”
Thomas Fowler IV, a Cal Poly architecture professor, said his third-year architecture studio has collaborated with Gilbert Bareng over the past two years to explore how data centers could incorporate sustainable design and better serve surrounding communities.
“What if data centers were climate-friendly, socially transparent and became active laboratories for student learning?” Fowler wrote in an email to Mustang News.
Fowler said students explored ways to make data centers more environmentally friendly, including reusing water to support local agriculture and incorporating alternative energy sources.
“These buildings must not just be black boxes in our communities,” Fowler wrote.