Site portrait
Flexential - Phoenix (PHX01)
Phoenix, Arizona · Flexential Corp. · operating
Independent observatory
The five pillars behind the grade
- Energy 2 of 6 measures C
- Water 1 of 4 measures E
- Land & biodiversity 2 of 7 measures B
- Local impact 0 of 7 measures –
- Transparency & governance 0 of 2 measures –
A pillar with no letter rests on too few measures to defend one. We publish the count rather than a letter we could not stand behind.
The points that will decide
Water
- Local water stress : water-allocation zone or drought order
To ask for : Which cooling technology, and how much water a year? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
Energy
- Local grid carbon intensity : 319.2 gCO2e/kWh
- Grid congestion / connection queue : moderate local grid congestion
To ask for : What PUE is announced, and measured how? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
Land & biodiversity
- Overlap / distance to protected areas : protected natural area 1–5 km away
- Soil status (artificialized / natural / agricultural) : previously developed land
To ask for : What ground footprint, and on which parcels? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
What this looks like from the street
Noise — continuous, day and night
Cooling runs permanently and standby generators are tested on a schedule. What is regulated is not a distance but how far the noise rises at the neighbour's.
We hold neither a nearest-dwelling distance nor an acoustic study for this site. Both are obtainable: the study is a document in the file.
Standby generators and their fuel
A facility like this keeps standby generators and the tanks that feed them. They are what gets tested, what gets smelled, and what triggers its own permitting. Their number, their fuel and the volume stored are in the file where one exists.
We measure no health effect and we do not claim to. We publish what is in the file, and what is not.
What we have not measured
- Grid connection capacity / proximitynot yet collected by us
- Heat-network connectabilityverified absent from the file we read
- Water body statusverified absent from the file we read
- Basin withdrawal pressurenot yet collected by us
- Ecological corridors (TVB)verified absent from the file we read
- Municipality socio-economic profilenot yet collected by us
- Absorption capacity (project size vs municipality)verified absent from the file we read
- Technological hazard / nearby Seveso sitesnot yet collected by us
- Observed level of oppositionverified absent from the file we read
- Elected officials' position (voted facts only)verified absent from the file we read
These gaps are ours, not the developer's: they say where our measurement stops, and they do not penalise the site.
Where the procedure stands
- announced
- under review
- under construction
- operating
the town or county that zones the land
Any record held by the town, the county or the development agency is obtained by a written request under the state's public-records law. The deadline: “promptly” — NO number of days. A failure to respond promptly counts as a denial, which opens the appeal.
What to get written into the approval
- To ask for : Which cooling technology, and how much water a year? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : What PUE is announced, and measured how? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : Will the waste heat be recovered, by whom, and from which phase? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : What ground footprint, and on which parcels? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : Which avoidance, reduction and offset measures? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : Is the land already designated for development in a supra-municipal plan? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : Does the planning document have to be changed for this project? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : How many permanent jobs after construction, and of what skill level? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : What tax revenue for the municipality, over what period, with what abatements? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : What consultation is planned, on what date, and who answers it? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
- To ask for : Is the full file open to consultation, where, and until when? to claim from the authority — the site is running, only its operating conditions still bite
Commitments that are not in the approval cannot be enforced: what is not written cannot be demanded later.