They’re huge. They suck up thousands of kilowatts of energy. And they might be coming to an Easton area neighborhood near you.

Data centers are necessary to power artificial intelligence, and the proliferation of AI will inevitably lead to the proliferation of huge facilities to store and share data.

So Palmer and Forks townships have crafted ordinances governing where data centers can go in their townships, how big they can be and how they can be integrated into suburban communities.

“Before anything comes to our area we want to make sure we have an ordinance on the books,” Palmer Township Planning Director Craig Beavers said at the Aug. 4 township supervisors meeting .

The Palmer Township supervisors adopted their data center ordinance at that meeting. It restricts data centers

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