The Shield Checklist

For citizens & communities — the questions to demand of any datacenter project.

When a datacenter is proposed near you, you don’t have to choose between “yes to anything” and “no to everything.” You can demand it be done right.

Bring this checklist to your municipality, your local debate, or the developer’s open meeting. A Frea-X Shield-aligned project should be able to answer yes to these. If it can’t — ask why.

💧 Water

• ☐ Zero drinking water used for cooling?
• ☐ Cooling via earth-tubes, free-air and rainwater harvesting (closed loop)?

♨️ Energy & Heat

• ☐ 100% of surplus heat fed back into district heating (or local food production)?
• ☐ Does the project stabilise the local grid (e.g. sand batteries, Power-to-X)?
• ☐ For mega-projects: is at least 60% of the power reserved for the local population? (the 60/40 Sovereignty Split)

🏗️ Materials & Hardware

• ☐ Built from mass timber (CLT) and sequestered waste — not pure concrete?
• ☐ Hardware reused and repaired, not disposable? E-waste recovered, never landfilled?

🌐 Digital & Community

• ☐ Local fiber “exits” so the community that hosts the data also gets the speed?
• ☐ Data sovereignty — local/EU control, open standards?
• ☐ Local jobs & training (a real skills/AI-campus commitment)?

🌱 Nature

• ☐ Dark-sky lighting, biodiversity net-gain, and subterranean/noise control?

🛡️ Accountability

• ☐ A Frea-X People’s Audit — by local citizens and independent experts?
• ☐ A revocable “License to Operate” if the project fails to deliver?
• ☐ Will it earn the Frea-X Shield (🔵 Blue · 🟢 Green · 🟡 Gold)?

The bottom line: say no to “Black” datacenters that merely “do less harm.” Demand one that makes your community better.

📄 Tip: print this page or save it as PDF (Ctrl+P) to bring to meetings.

Read the full standard: The Regenerative Datacenter → · The Certification Shield →

From Waste to Wealth. From Human to Human. · Frea-x.com