Community-Developed Micro Data Centres: Data in People's Hands

The Challenge

Europe’s digital landscape is heavily controlled by a few major corporations, creating a stark divide that leaves rural and underserved communities behind. More than 30% of people in rural areas lack access to reliable high-speed internet, severely limiting their ability to participate in the digital economy and hindering opportunities for innovation and growth.

At the same time, centralized data centres consume vast amounts of energy, accounting for 2% of global electricity use and contributing significantly to carbon emissions. This centralized model is not only unsustainable but also exclusionary, with users having little control over their data and communities missing out on the €415 billion annual economic potential of digital transformation.

The 1WP Solution

The Decentralized Micro Data Centre DAO offers a transformative alternative. By deploying a network of modular, energy-efficient micro data centres, the DAO empowers communities to take control of their digital futures. These centres, powered by renewable energy and governed by local stakeholders, provide a transparent, equitable, and sustainable model for data storage and processing.

The DAO integrates cutting-edge technologies like edge computing, which reduces latency and bandwidth costs by 60%, and heat recovery systems that repurpose excess heat for district heating. Tokenized governance ensures that community members have a say in key decisions, from data pricing to energy use, while revenue-sharing models ensure that profits flow back to local stakeholders.

Making It Work

The journey begins with the formation of the DAO, leveraging 1WP’s DAO Launchpad to onboard stakeholders, including local governments, IT professionals, and residents. Tokenized memberships, represented by ERC-1155 NFTs, grant governance rights and revenue shares, creating a sense of ownership and incentivizing active participation. A crowdfunding campaign on 1WP’s platform attracts impact investors and tech enthusiasts, offering ERC-20 tokens for equity and ERC-1155 NFTs for governance.

Once funded, the DAO identifies regions with high digital exclusion and renewable energy potential. Modular micro data centres, with capacities of 20-40 kW, are deployed in just 6-8 weeks. These centres are powered by solar panels, with excess energy stored in community battery systems or sold to local grids. Heat recovery systems channel excess heat to warm nearby homes and businesses, creating a symbiotic relationship between the data centre and the community.

Local jobs are created for setup, maintenance, and customer support, ensuring that the benefits of the project stay within the community. AI-driven optimization balances energy use, storage, and computing demands, while scalable models allow for replication across Europe, creating a federated network of DAO-governed data centres.

The Human Impact

The impact of the Decentralized Micro Data Centre DAO is profound. Economically, each micro data centre creates 10-15 local jobs and returns 30% of profits to token holders through revenue-sharing models. Digitally, rural businesses gain access to affordable cloud storage and edge computing, while schools and hospitals benefit from low-latency, high-speed connectivity. Environmentally, the centres reduce energy use by 70% compared to traditional data centres, and heat recovery systems cut heating costs for nearby buildings by 40%.

In pilot projects like rural Estonia, the DAO model has already demonstrated its potential. Internet costs for local businesses have been reduced by 50%, enabling 10 new startups to leverage cloud computing. Annual CO₂ emissions have been cut by 120 tons per centre, showcasing the environmental benefits of this decentralized approach.

Vision: A Federated Data Future

The Decentralized Micro Data Centre DAO is more than just infrastructure – it’s a movement to reshape the digital economy. By 2030, a network of 1,000 micro data centres could provide 15,000 jobs across Europe, generate €500 million in annual revenue for local communities, and offset 120,000 tons of CO₂ through renewable energy and heat recovery.

This model empowers communities to own their digital futures, ensuring data sovereignty, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. Through 1World Project’s DAO framework, we’re building a decentralized digital ecosystem that works for everyone.

This isn’t just data infrastructure. It’s a movement to reclaim control from tech giants, bridge the digital divide, and create a sustainable, community-driven digital future.