@asklemmy@lemmy.world @asklemmy@lemmy.ml what are the likely impacts of datacenters on water and on energy supply ? Can someone please enlighten me on this ?
Water usage is a drop in the bucket globally, but can have a significant impact locally. Energy supply isn’t threatened, but the distribution system is overtaxed and big companies are often given tax breaks that leave residents holding the bag for the costs of expanding energy supply and distribution.
So by and large data centers aren’t any worse than a super Walmart (which isn’t great), but the fact is no one would want one in their town, while a Walmart is actually useful locally — though it’s a monkey’s paw.
This is spot on. The big question is how to pay for the additional generation and distribution capacity. Typically this demand grows slowly and is amortized over decades. Data center demand is coming very rapidly all at once and there is no guarantee these companies will even exist 5-10 years from now. All that said, if tech companies pay for improvements to generation and distribution that would be something everyone would benefit from.
@xylogx @MagicShel why do you think that these companies won’t exist after 10 years ??
Companies go out of business. I am not sure if any if these companies will, but it is easy to imagine the bubble bursting and only a few coming through.
I am not the previous commenters, but seeing as there hasn’t been a response yet, may as well offer my 2¢:
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Most of the data centers are being spun up to support AI development. AI companies have yet to find a profitable business model, and that situation is not likely to change anytime soon. If they don’t become profitable, companies will start closing and will no longer need their data centers.
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Costs of everything are balooning. The price of essential hardware has spiked dramatically due to demand, so the data centers are being built at inflated cost and will need to turn over even more profit to break even, which will be difficult. Data centers also need a lot of power to operate, most of which is still based on fossil fuels, and that is also getting very expensive thanks to the US’s war with Iran.
Basically you’re looking at high initial investment and operational costs, while profitability is not likely to occur anytime soon (if at all).
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It depends on the company. Some of these data centers are frankly ran by assholes, which draw a lot of power and water.
It is because they are narcissistic idiots.
Our centers use solar and we actually give to the grid, we use grey water (meaning we reuse water by cooling it) and dielectric oil systems.
But there are fuckfaces using gas generators. So there is a bit of a spread. Like, we have bee hives. We just thought things out differently.
@expletivedeleted where is this data center ??
Earth.
@expletivedeleted jokes apart !! Which place is that ???
The Planet, in the Sol system.
Earth. You might have heard about it.
It is a popular topic if you are on Earth. Also known as Terra or Gaia.
Look down. You probably see Earth.
There are no jokes here.
Now, we have about 50 datacenters, we are launching another 13 right now. And all of them can be found, right here, on the blue and brown ball called Earth.
Likely where you are standing.
Do you really expect me to give personal details?! That is brazen, but I came from my mother, and I was born without a husband.
Thrusted into this world, uneducated, I was forced into a school at the age of five. All I had to eat in the morning was breakfast. Around noon, I was forced to eat lunch. When the sun went down, all I had to eat was dinner.
When I went to sleep, everything became dark. But one day, my eyes were opened! And the same process started again. I saw a pattern!
I hope we all see this pattern, one day.
Dude, I am not going to doxxed myself. Do you think I am such a genius like Elon Musk? No. I don’t remember five minutes ago.
How exactly is data centered. Can data be sideways, cock-eyed, askew? I think I saw Brent Spiner once, and he seemed rather upright.
Hold up: where are you? Joking aside.
@expletivedeleted can you imagine how data centers might engineer a water crisis in a populated country like India ??
Use gray water, and cycle it through an external fan system to cool it down.
You know how a water cooling system works on a PC? Like even an AIO? Like that, but just much bigger.
There are assholes that are throwing money at a bubble and they don’t know shit about computing. Fuck, wasn’t there a data center that got caught for running gas generators?
Corporations are not known for paying their fair share and being responsible stewards of the land. Regulations exist because assholes in the past tried to do exactly what is being regulated against. They did this for money regardless of consequences.
Data centers will push for tax breaks that you ultimately pay for with higher taxes. They will become a major customer for the electric company and will negotiate better prices that you will subsidize in higher prices. They will pollute the environment and likely face no repercussions even with a government that is more eco-friendly (this current one (US) is actively eco-hostile).
