Last week, Microsoft announced that it would spend approximately $80 billion during this fiscal year to build data centers for its booming artificial intelligence business. That gargantuan sum is a testament to the opportunity that Microsoft and other tech giants see in A.I.
It also has the makings of a climate conundrum. In order to power all of those data centers, Microsoft and other tech companies building similar projects are going to need huge amounts of electricity. That means ever greater strains on a power grid that is still, to a significant extent, fueled by natural gas, and to a lesser extent, coal.
In the next three years alone, data centers are expected to as much as triple their energy use, according to a new report supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Under that forecast, data centers could account for as much as 12 percent of the nation’s electricity consumption by 2028. McKinsey & Company, the international consulting firm, expects global demand for data centers to grow at roughly 20 percent a year through the end of the decade.
What a fucking waste.
And water consumption?
And water consumption?
The really crappy part is that water consumption can be really low for data centers if they use a closed loop system. However, that is more expensive, so many DCs go cheap and consume massive amounts of water a the worst times of the year to do so. There are two DCs currently under construction in my city. They are both fed water by our local water utility. One is closed loop and will only consume a tiny amount of water. The other is an AWS DC which is going to be consume massive amounts because they are choosing to build without closed loop.
All water will be reserved for corporate use if any is left
When will South Park make a satirical episode on AI water consumption, where Elon Musk will be like Immortam Joe?
That worse part. Especially with Climate change is going make getting access to fresh drinking water a callange, this will just make it worse.
this is a motherfucking nightmare.
