This is the second installment of a TribLive occasional series on data center development in Western Pennsylvania. Today’s story looks at the boom in data center construction in Northern Virginia and what that means for Southwestern Pennsylvania.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — Greg Pirio says the data center boom of Northern Virginia is like the Industrial Revolution.

The difference for Pirio, 75, of Sterling, Va.: This revolution is in his backyard.

For a little more than a year, an 800,000-square-foot natural gas-powered data center has let out a constant drone from across the fence line of Pirio’s townhome.

With several data center projects looming in Western Pennsylvania, including in Springdale, Homer City in Indiana County, Shippingport in Beaver County and Upper Burrell, which also plans to use natural gas generators for its electricity, the experiences of Pirio and other Northern Virginians may offer a glimpse of what’s in store locally as residents prepare to live within the footprint of the rapidly expanding industry.

“Sometimes we’ll go days with all this noise at a high level, and then other times it’ll be fairly quiet,” Pirio said of his Virginia neighborhood.

A California native, he bought his townhome more than a decade ago in what was then a generally forested stretch of suburbia with some nearby shopping centers and office parks in Loudoun County.

The data center industry already had a firm foothold in the county by the time Pirio arrived, but in the last decade — and especially since the rise of artificial intelligence — the build-out expanded rapidly.

Most data centers draw power directly from the local electric grid, but as electricity providers increasingly struggle to supply the power-hungry industry, some companies have opted for alternatives.

Pirio’s noisy neighbor — built by Colorado-based Vantage Data Centers — is powered by on-site natural gas turbines. The company did not respond to a TribLive request for comment.

While the turbines take some burden off the grid, Pirio said, their constant whirring and the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels isn’t worth it.

“Last year, I bought a birdbath, but there are no birds to use it,” he said, referencing the constant noise in his neighborhood.