It would be nice to oblige datacenters to be powered exclusively by renewable energy sources that they have to build first as a prerequisite to their construction permit. Each community could add some clauses of energy overproduction to be injected in the public grid, allowing to lower the cost of energy for local communities themselves.
The US has 5,400 DCs and an average 50MW DC consumes 1-5 million galloons of clean water DAILY, polluting it in the process and draining aquifers, while emitting 4,000,000,000 BTUs + into the surrounding environment DAILY, creating "heat islands" up to 16 degF hotter out to 3mi from the DC. Perhaps most importantly in Trumpistan, AI is taking over for the human mind's capacity for critical thinking and analysis, so dumbing down an already infotainment saturated media environment. Here in Marietta, Ohio, we get 14' of national/world news nightly on the two Parkersburg TV channels. I recommend reading Jeff Goodell's 2025 "The Heat Will Kill you First". The very last thing we humans need on this massively overheated planet is MORE HEAT! NO MORE DATA CENTERS!
The data centers really need to be powered by renewable energy and not planet heating fossil fuels! Sadly the republicans of Trumpestan will not hear of that! 😡
Nobody will see much in the way of "benefits", economic or otherwise, if the planet becomes uninhabitable.
Comparing with other industries or domestic use is straightforward whataboutery. Yes, society already uses a vast amount of energy and water and emits a vast amount of CO2. What part of thar makes it OK to make this worse? In some cases we're talking about the construction and operation of some of the largest single emitters of greenhouse gasses in the US.
I think the days of unregulated data center construction are pretty much over and that’s a good thing! But I don’t want a complete halt of construction. I think Shapiro has a pretty good middle ground for Pennsylvania! Good luck 🍀
It would be nice to oblige datacenters to be powered exclusively by renewable energy sources that they have to build first as a prerequisite to their construction permit. Each community could add some clauses of energy overproduction to be injected in the public grid, allowing to lower the cost of energy for local communities themselves.
The US has 5,400 DCs and an average 50MW DC consumes 1-5 million galloons of clean water DAILY, polluting it in the process and draining aquifers, while emitting 4,000,000,000 BTUs + into the surrounding environment DAILY, creating "heat islands" up to 16 degF hotter out to 3mi from the DC. Perhaps most importantly in Trumpistan, AI is taking over for the human mind's capacity for critical thinking and analysis, so dumbing down an already infotainment saturated media environment. Here in Marietta, Ohio, we get 14' of national/world news nightly on the two Parkersburg TV channels. I recommend reading Jeff Goodell's 2025 "The Heat Will Kill you First". The very last thing we humans need on this massively overheated planet is MORE HEAT! NO MORE DATA CENTERS!
The data centers really need to be powered by renewable energy and not planet heating fossil fuels! Sadly the republicans of Trumpestan will not hear of that! 😡
Both will emit the SAME AMOUNT OF WASTE HEAT.
"17 billion gallons of water a year is less than household use"
uh, put this in perspective please.
Whose household might that be?
Whose household might that be?
Nobody will see much in the way of "benefits", economic or otherwise, if the planet becomes uninhabitable.
Comparing with other industries or domestic use is straightforward whataboutery. Yes, society already uses a vast amount of energy and water and emits a vast amount of CO2. What part of thar makes it OK to make this worse? In some cases we're talking about the construction and operation of some of the largest single emitters of greenhouse gasses in the US.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/amazon-data-center-largest-pollution-source-texas-usa
I think the days of unregulated data center construction are pretty much over and that’s a good thing! But I don’t want a complete halt of construction. I think Shapiro has a pretty good middle ground for Pennsylvania! Good luck 🍀