The rapid development of artificial intelligence is sparking the development of data centers that provide computing power for the technology. Water usage and energy consumption are among the concerns.
Journal Sentinel town hall to focus on data center water and power use
Please join town hall meeting on Feb. 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Turner Hall ballroom on Wisconsin data centers. Free tickets at: https://bit.ly/49Z0PSU
Advertisement
The Journal Sentinel asked readers to send us their questions about Wisconsin data centers. More than 300 responded.
We will be posting the answers to those questions here over the next weeks as more are published. This story will also be updated with a video replay of our Feb. 23 town hall meeting. You can still get free tickets to the event, which will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Turner Hall ballroom in Milwaukee.
We are we just hearing about the AI data centers now?
There are a few reasons why data centers have become so high profile across the country in the last few years — and in Wisconsin over the last year, especially. Much of the data center boom we’re seeing now is tied to the scale of computing needed to advance AI.
For one, the infrastructure needed for AI is much larger and more resource intensive than the existing data centers we’ve had for decades. That scale unlocks new cost-benefit analyses for the communities they’re proposed in, which often makes them much more controversial and often ignites community-wide, even region-wide discussions.
Advertisement
This is playing out across the country. Still, Wisconsin is not at the forefront of this data center buildout with 51. Virginia (570) has the most data centers in the country, followed by Texas (407) and California (288). And so when people are trying to figure out what a new data center proposal means for their community, they’re reading about how data centers are affecting other states.
How much land is being devoted to artificial intelligence data centers?
The answer depends on the project. In Wisconsin, the newer facilities range from 16 acres (the Meta site in Beaver Dam) to 250 acres (as proposed in Janesville) to 1,900 acres (the Vantage project in Port Washington). Those examples are a pretty good sample of what we’re seeing across the country. Most AI‑focused hyperscale data center campuses today are being planned on roughly 200–500 acres, with some of the headline projects at 1,000–2,000 acres.
For context, 16 acres is about 12 football fields. And 250 acres is comparable to one or to two large 18‑hole golf courses, a big regional shopping center plus its parking lot or a mid-sized university campus, like Northwestern University in Chicago. The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s main campus is around 1,000 acres, which is about the size of the Village of Shorewood.
Data centers also require land for supporting infrastructure
However, there’s a bit more complexity embedded into the original question. Data center sites themselves are a starting point for this conversation, but there’s a lot of additional infrastructure and land needed beyond those sites. Powering such facilities typically requires new energy generation in the form of new power plants and transmission lines, which also need land.
Advertisement
More: Wisconsin lawmakers debate ban on data center secrecy deals
For instance, the first phase of construction in Port Washington, which will be used by OpenAI and Oracle, is 672 acres and requires about 1.3 gigawatts of electricity (one gigawatt equals one billion watts.) That could equate to the output of about one or two big modern power plants, or a few mid-sized facilities. And utility infrastructure isn’t just about power plants. Data centers also often need power lines to move the energy across the grid from the plant to the warehouse, if they aren’t built on-site. For example, there’s a transmission line project proposed to bring power to the Port Washington facility that spans across five counties in eastern Wisconsin and would be between 100 and 120 miles long.
With newer technology, why is so much water and power needed?
To answer requires a brief explanation of how artificial intelligence works. In the past, data centers were used to power the internet and for cloud storage, software and business records management.
AI requires a vast amount of data and computing power to perform numerous computations and to train chatbots and build enterprise tools for companies. The scale is higher than the amount of computing and data storage, requiring vast warehouses of interconnected computers and servers running around the clock. This requires a lot more power, typically at least 1 GW per data center campus.
Advertisement
That equipment generates heat and needs to be cooled, which also requires additional power — and water. Proponents point to the use of closed loop cooling systems in the Port Washington and Mount Pleasant projects which use considerably less water than previous coolant systems.
What are the life spans of data centers? How soon will they be obsolete?
Generally, data centers are designed to operate for around 10 to 20 years before they need major upgrade or full replacement, but different components have a range of life cycles. Like with most commercial buildings, the underlying building shell can last much longer that 20 year, but the internal systems, including specialized IT gear and power and cooling systems, are typically designed for 10-20 of use before they start to become “obsolete.”
However, the servers, which contain the chips that store and process data, have a much shorter lifecycle and are typically replaced every 3 to 5, though they can often function 7–10 years with good maintenance. There are several reasons for that. The frontiers of chip technology are constantly evolving and so using the newest hardware usually provides higher performance and energy efficiency, which reduces the risks of system failure.
Warmer temps and storm chances build into Sunday and Monday
Advertisement
GET TO PLAY A PART TOO. THAT’S INCREDIBLE. I’M EXCITED. VERY, VERY COOL. STILL SOME RAIN A LITTLE BIT THIS MORNING AND I THINK IT MOVES OUT BY 7:00. WE HAD SOME IMPACTFUL RAIN OVERNIGHT. PARTS OF SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN, INCLUDING MILWAUKEE’S AIRPORT, PICKED UP MORE THAN HALF AN INCH. IT HAS BEEN A RAINY APRIL SO FAR. WE HAVE SEEN OVER FOUR INCHES OF RAIN ALREADY. WE’VE HARDLY STARTED THE MONTH OR A WEEK AND A HALF IN, BUT ON AVERAGE FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF APRIL, WE SEE UNDER FOUR INCHES OF RAIN. AND IT’S NOT JUST THE RAIN THAT WE’VE ALREADY SEEN. THERE IS MORE ON THE WAY. AS WE HEAD THROUGH THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST. THIS IS FORECAST PRECIPITATION THROUGH THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST. MOST OF THIS COMING SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. BUT NOTICE PARTS OF SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN. MOST OF THE STATE PICKS UP MORE THAN TWO INCHES OF RAIN OVER THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS. WE’LL SEE ROUNDS OF STORM CHANCES AND EVEN THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER. NEXT WEEK. IT IS FORECAST TO KEEP A REALLY CLOSE EYE ON RIGHT NOW 41 DEGREES. SOME SHOWERS LIKELY STILL AROUND THERE IN PEWAUKEE. FROM OUR CAMERA AT WAUKESHA COUNTY TECHNICAL COLLEGE. THERE’S ONE MORE AREA OF RAIN THAT’S GOING TO MOVE THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN OVER THE NEXT HOUR AND A HALF OR SO. THEN WE’RE DRY, BUT YOU CAN SEE SOME CLEARING BACK BEHIND THOSE SHOWERS. WE’LL SEE A LITTLE MORE SUNSHINE EVEN AS WE HEAD TOWARDS 8:00 THIS MORNING. TEMPERATURES WILL BE MUCH COOLER TODAY THOUGH, THAN THEY HAVE BEEN THE LAST FEW DAYS. WE’VE GOTTEN CLOSE TO 70 DEGREES THE LAST TWO DAYS. TOMORROW. TODAY WE TOP OUT CLOSE TO ABOUT 4850 FURTHER INLAND. SO LET’S GO DAY BY DAY AS WE HEAD INTO AND PAST THE WEEKEND CLEARING SKIES TODAY AND MUCH, MUCH COOLER THAN WE HAVE BEEN TOMORROW. WE SHOULD BE DRY JUST ABOUT ALL DAY LONG. THERE IS A REALLY SLIM CHANCE FOR A STRAY SHOWER DURING THE AFTERNOON. RAIN AND STORM CHANCES INCREASE DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. WAY WARMER ON SUNDAY WITH ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND STORMS IN THE FORECAST. BUT I DO THINK THERE WILL BE SOME DRY TIME ON SUNDAY. MONDAY THERE’S ANOTHER CHANCE FOR RAIN AND STORMS, BUT RIGHT NOW IT DOES LOOK LIKE THERE’S A LOT OF DRY TIME. ON MONDAY. WE SEE MORE STORMS ON TUESDAY, MORE STORM CHANCES ON WEDNESDAY, MORE ON THURSDAY. AND LOOK AT THOSE TEMPERATURES SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. AGAIN, I DON’T THINK ANY DAY IS NECESSARILY A COMPLETE WASHOUT. SO THERE SHOULD BE SOME TIME TO GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY THOSE TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S AND 70S FUTURECAST HAS THAT LITTLE BIT OF RAIN RIGHT NOW. IT QUICKLY MOVES OUT. WE’LL SEE MORE SUNSHINE AS WE HEAD THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS TODAY AND SUN THROUGH A LOT OF THE DAY TOMORROW. NOTICE BY 3:00, MAYBE A FEW SHOWERS AROUND. THIS MODEL IS KEEPING SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN DRY, BUT IT’S OVERNIGHT THAT WE SEE SOME STORM CHANCES INTO SUNDAY MORNING. AND THEN WE COULD SEE A FEW MORE STORMS AS WE HEAD INTO SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WE’RE STILL A LITTLE FAR OUT FOR EXACT TIMING ON SUNDAY STORM CHANCES, BUT I DO THINK WE’LL SEE SOME DRY TIME TO GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY TEMPERATURES IN THE 70S. THEN IT’S AN ACTIVE STRETCH THROUGH MOST OF NEXT WEEK. NO DAY LOOKS LIKE A COMPLETE WASHOUT, BUT ESPECIALLY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. WE’LL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE STORMS HERE IN SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN. AND WITH MORE HEAVY RAIN ON THE WAY. AFTER A SOGGY LAST WEEK AND A HALF OR SO, WE’LL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR RIVER FLOODING CONCERNS AS WELL. 48 DEGREES FOR A HIGH TODAY, BUT WILL BE WARMER, INLAND. WARMER INLAND AGAIN TOMORROW. BUT EVERYONE SHOULD SEE HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE 50S. THEN THAT ACTIVE STRETCH RETURNS TO SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN. DAILY STORM CHANCES. NO DAY IS A WASHOUT, BUT IF YOU HAVE OUTDOOR PLANS ON SUNDAY, KEEP AN EYE ON THE FORECAST. WE COULD SEE SOME IMPACTS. THAT 73, THOUGH LOOKING NICE AND QUITE A FEW 70S ON THE FORECAST. I KNOW. LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. IT’S JUST SO NICE TO HAVE THE WINDOWS OPEN YESTERDAY UNTIL THAT LAKE BREEZE KICKED IN AND IT DROPPED ABO
Advertisement
Spring warm-up and storm chances in SE Wisconsin
Warmer temps and storm chances build into Sunday and Monday
Updated: 6:12 AM CDT Apr 10, 2026
Advertisement
Editorial Standards ⓘ
Friday starts with a few early showers and sprinkles before skies gradually clear. Temperatures will stay on the cool side near the lake in the upper 40s, but inland spots warm into the mid-50s. Friday night turns partly cloudy and cool, with lows dipping to around 35 degrees.Saturday looks mainly dry with a mix of clouds and some sunshine with highs reaching the low 50s lakeside and upper 50s inland before rain and storm chances begin to move in late. Those storm chances stick around through Sunday and Monday, with a noticeable warm-up pushing highs into the 70s both days. Rounds of rain and storm chances are on the way Sunday through Thursday next week. Stay tuned to the forecast this weekend and next week, a few days next week could bring the chance for severe weather to SE Wisconsin.
MILWAUKEE —
Advertisement
Friday starts with a few early showers and sprinkles before skies gradually clear. Temperatures will stay on the cool side near the lake in the upper 40s, but inland spots warm into the mid-50s. Friday night turns partly cloudy and cool, with lows dipping to around 35 degrees.
Saturday looks mainly dry with a mix of clouds and some sunshine with highs reaching the low 50s lakeside and upper 50s inland before rain and storm chances begin to move in late. Those storm chances stick around through Sunday and Monday, with a noticeable warm-up pushing highs into the 70s both days.
Rounds of rain and storm chances are on the way Sunday through Thursday next week. Stay tuned to the forecast this weekend and next week, a few days next week could bring the chance for severe weather to SE Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill into law Thursday that legalizes online sports betting, making it the 33rd state to allow the practice.
But gamblers in Wisconsin will have to wait months or maybe even longer before they can start to legally place bets. The law Evers signed, which passed the Legislature with bipartisan support, requires the state to negotiate new deals with American Indian tribes that would run the sports betting.
Evers said he would not accept a plan that treats any one tribe better than another.
“The real work begins today,” he said in a statement. “Each of the 11 Tribes must now work diligently-and together-to shape the future of sports betting in Wisconsin. … An approach that exacerbates long-standing inequalities among Tribal Nations is not good for Wisconsinites or Wisconsin. I will not entertain it as governor.”
Advertisement
Gambling is legal in Wisconsin only on tribal lands under exclusive contracts between tribes and the state. Sports bets can currently be placed only at certain tribal casinos, and online sports betting is illegal.
Under the new Wisconsin law, online sports betting would be allowed only if the infrastructure to manage the bets, such as computer servers, is located on tribal lands in the state. That approach, known as the “hub-and-spoke” model, already is used in Florida.
Under the Wisconsin tribal compacts, a percentage of the money tribes earn through that gambling is returned to the state. In 2024, the tribes paid the state just over $66 million from revenue generated at casinos.
Evers said the new law represents a chance “to support mental health programs and to combat the opioid crisis, two issues that I know plague both Tribal Nations and communities across our state.”
Supporters of the measure include several Wisconsin tribes and the Milwaukee Brewers. They contend people currently are placing bets using offshore sportsbooks or prediction markets or crossing into other states where it’s legal, including neighboring Illinois.
Advertisement
The Sports Betting Alliance, which represents FanDuel, DraftKings, bet365, BetMGM and Fanatics, opposed the law. They argued that it wouldn’t make financial sense for them to partner with Wisconsin tribes, because federal law requires 60% of gambling revenues must go back to the tribes. They would prefer a state constitutional amendment opening sports betting to all operators.
Evers, who is not running for a third term this year, has originally said he would sign it as long as it had the support of the state’s 11 federally recognized tribes. But he later raised concerns because not every tribe was on board. Evers said Thursday that all 11 tribes are now in active negotiations over how to implement the new law.
Across the U.S., state-regulated sportsbooks handled nearly $167 billion of bets last year, generating revenues of nearly $17 billion after winnings were paid out to customers, according to the American Gaming Association. That marked an almost 23% increase over the previous year.
Wisconsin Badgers offensive lineman Blake Cherry goes through a drill during spring practice. Photo credit: UW Athletics
There was no shortage of things that went wrong for Luke Fickell and the University of Wisconsin football team during its 4–8 season in 2025.
You can point to the countless injuries at quarterback. You can point to an inconsistency at the skill positions. You can point to a lack of offensive identity. All of it is fair. But if you really strip it down from an execution standpoint, most of those problems trace back to one place.
Up front.
“That’s the number one thing offensively is the continuity of those guys up front,” Fickell said when asked about the focus for Wisconsin’s offensive line this spring. “I’m not going to dwell upon the past, but if there’s something that has probably not gone in the direction, individually or unit-wise, it has been the O-line. With the history here and what the expectations are here — that’s one of the big things.”
Advertisement
That’s not a throwaway line. That’s an acknowledgment.
Because for as much as the quarterback carousel defined last season, the offensive line never gave the offense a chance to stabilize or improve. There was constant shuffling. Players were asked to play out of position. Others were forced into roles they probably weren’t ready for yet.
And the result showed up in the numbers.
Wisconsin fielded the least productive offense in the Power Four last season, finishing No. 134 nationally in scoring (12.8 points per game) and No. 135 in total offense (253.1 yards per game). The run game — a foundational piece of the program’s identity — never found traction.
Then, after the season, more experience walked out the door.
Advertisement
Starting left guard Joe Brunner transferred to Indiana. Center Jake Renfro left for Illinois. Offensive tackle Riley Mahlman exhausted his eligibility.
Whatever continuity existed up front didn’t last.
So the response was predictable. Wisconsin moved on from A.J. Blazek and hired Eric Mateos as the new offensive line coach, leaning on his prior working relationship with offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes in hopes that familiarity can help this new group get up to speed quickly.
The next step was to go out and add bodies. A lot of them.
Most notably, Austin Kawecki arrives from Oklahoma State as a veteran presence expected to take over the starting center job. Kevin Heywood returns from an ACL injury and is expected to factor in at tackle. And then there’s P.J. Wilkins, an Ole Miss transfer who has primarily played guard in college but is now working at tackle since arriving in Madison.
Advertisement
That last part matters.
Because Mateos didn’t just inherit this group — he’s reshaping it.
“That’s what I really love about it, to be honest with you,” Fickell said about the offensive line. “I love being in that room right now because there are all new guys. There are some guys who played a little bit in [Colin] Cubberly and Emerson Mandell. But the nature of it is it’s a new group.”
It looks like one, too.
Colin Cubberly brings experience after being thrown into the fire last season. Emerson Mandell, who opened last year as the starting right guard, has shown positional flexibility after sliding out to tackle last season, but is now back working on the interior. Arkansas transfer Blake Cherry is competing on the interior, while younger or depth options like Lucas Simmons and Stylz Blackmon add competition behind them.
Advertisement
Even someone like Barrett Nelson, currently working back from another injury, is viewed as a candidate for the two-deep at tackle when healthy. There are more options. The challenge is turning that into answers.
“Look, we’ve got to get back to that group being a group,” said Fickell. “It’s not individuals. There are a lot of things we’ve got to be able to do… Yes, they understand the history. Yes, they understand the past. But it’s time to kind of say, ‘Look.’ This is a group that’s got to kind of reestablish the things that we believe in, and we are.”
And that’s where everything ties together. Because this isn’t just about fixing the offensive line in isolation, this is about supporting a completely reworked offense.
Nobody’s expecting this group to snap back to the gold standard of offensive line play that Wisconsin built its identity on overnight. But this is still a program that wants to run the ball, play with physicality up front, and lean into a system that now includes mobile quarterbacks.
Even if returning to an elite level immediately isn’t realistic, they do have to become a Big Ten-caliber unit — one capable of holding its own, creating movement, and giving the offense a chance to dictate terms instead of constantly reacting. Wisconsin has a new quarterback room led by Old Dominion transfer Colton Joseph. A reshaped running back group featuring Abu Sama and Darrion Dupree. A completely different mix at wide receiver. Changes at tight end. All of it depends on what happens up front.
Advertisement
If the line comes together, the Badgers’ offense has a path toward meaningful improvement after what was one of the least productive units Wisconsin has fielded in decades. If it doesn’t, it’s hard to see much changing, regardless of who’s under center or carrying the ball.
Fickell knows it. The staff knows it. The returning players know it.
Now it’s about proving it.
“I think that’s where a lot of the youth and the newer guys have been really refreshing — a little bit of a changeover,” Fickell said.
Refreshing is one way to put it. Necessary might be a better one. Because for Wisconsin to take a step forward and make it back to a bowl game for the first time since 2023, it starts where it always has. Up front.
Advertisement
We appreciate you taking the time to read our work at BadgerNotes.com. Your support means the world to us and has helped us become a leading independent source for Wisconsin Badgers coverage.
You can also follow Site Publisher Dillon Graffat @DillonGraff on X.
