This paper extends the integrated thermal resource siting framework introduced in Kristenson (2026a) — originally developed for photovoltaic solar installations — to data center infrastructure. Cooling systems account for 30–40% of total data center energy consumption, and the global average PUE has plateaued at 1.56 despite sustained optimization effort. The paper proposes adding thermal resource inventory as a fifth co-equal data center siting variable alongside fiber access, grid capacity, land cost, and incentives. Ground-source heat exchange, underground thermal energy storage (UTES), surface water buffering, and co-located solar generation with shared cooling infrastructure are identified as a layered architecture producing returns across four simultaneous value streams. The central novel contribution is the identification of data center waste heat management and solar panel thermal efficiency optimization as complementary thermal flows addressable through shared campus infrastructure. While the Northern Plains serves as the primary illustrative geography, the framework generalizes globally to any region with seasonal cold windows, viable ground conductivity, and surface water access.
Cody A Kristenson (Sun,) studied this question.