Donovan O'Leary

Donovan O'Leary

1 bookScience & TechnologyEducational & AcademicArtificial Intelligence

Donovan O'Leary writes at the intersection of technology, energy, and public law. He has advised civic groups and legislative staff on infrastructure siting, utility ratemaking, and environmental review, with a focus on making technical trade-offs readable for voters and lawmakers alike. A Cloud Made of Concrete is his call for responsible growth during the AI build-out. He lives in the United States, follows grid and water dockets the way other people follow sports, and believes good statute can be both ambitious and practical.

Book

A Cloud Made of Concrete

A Cloud Made of Concrete

AI Data Centers, Public Costs, and the Case for Responsible Growth

  • Science & Technology
  • Educational & Academic

The cloud is not vapor. It is concrete, copper, water, and megawatts. Artificial intelligence is driving the fastest build-out of industrial infrastructure in a generation. Data centers now draw as much power as small nations, tap regional aquifers, and rewrite local tax bases—while communities inherit the heat, noise, and e-waste. This book is a legislative playbook, not a manifesto. Donovan O'Leary maps the real economic gains against grid strain, water loss, public-health costs, mineral supply chains, and fossil-fuel bundling. He compares cooling technologies, additionality rules, and overseas regulatory models, then delivers a three-pillar framework and a ready-to-file Model Data Center Act. The window is short. Lobbying is already reshaping statehouses. Grassroots pushback is rising. If lawmakers wait, growth will lock in the worst costs and forfeit the best benefits of AI. A Cloud Made of Concrete is the bipartisan case for building the future without bankrupting the commons.

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