Permit conditions, a community covenant, and a model state act for any county, city, or state considering a data center. Free to copy, adapt, and adopt — no attribution, no license, no vendor.
Every data center turns electricity into heat, and nearly all of it leaves by the roof. The newest buildings release it hot enough to run a greenhouse, a fish farm, a public pool, or the floor of a house — in January, with nothing burned. Whether any of that happens is decided once, on a site plan, before the public sees it. This document moves the decision into the open.
Conditions a locality can attach to a data-center special use permit, and a covenant a developer can proffer in return.
None of it mandates the reuse of heat. Each section mandates that the question be answered — and each has a precedent already in force.
For anyone who will never read an ordinance. Ask them of any applicant, out loud, at any hearing. They are printed below.
Ask these of any data-center applicant, out loud, at any public hearing.
An applicant who can answer all five has a Heat Recovery Assessment, a connection point, a covenant, and nothing to hide. An applicant who cannot answer the first one has not thought about it, and now will.
If you sit on a board or council: hand Part One to your attorney and ask for the Heat Recovery Assessment before the next application is heard. You do not need your state's permission to ask where the heat goes.
If you serve in a legislature: Part Two is three pages of law with a precedent in force elsewhere, and one demonstration with a public meter. Legislate from evidence.
If you have a hearing coming up: print Part Three. Read it out loud.
The Heat Condition is released into the public domain under CC0 1.0. It is not legal advice; have your county or city attorney, or Legislative Services, review it before adoption. Bracketed figures are left for the locality and its engineer to set.