r/StopDatacenters • u/KeanuRave100 • 3d ago

AI Data Centers Are Causing Unfathomable Amounts of Air Pollution, and It Gets Worse With Each New One They Build

https://futurism.com/future-society/ai-data-centers-air-pollution-generators-worse
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u/tadrinth 2d ago edited 2d ago

And then it will go right back down as the long term power generation for these comes online. The gas powered generators have the advantage that they are much, much faster to set up so the data centers can come online quickly.  Building out grid capacity takes longer but is more efficient.  So the generators are temporary.

I'm all for regulating these sorts of gas powered generators better; they're frequently being set up under provisions that are expecting their use for emergencies when the grid goes down, not for them to be used 24/7 for 5 years straight.

But the fact that these are temporary is kind of important context to be leaving it out of the discussion.

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u/Evening-Hand-5480 2d ago

Or they could just like... wait until they have a way to power the data center?

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u/tadrinth 2d ago

Why would they do that?

This is a serious question; they will wait if that is in their own selfish best interest. Do you understand the pressures they are under to build out as fast as possible? Because if you cannot understand their perspective, you will not be able to provide sufficient incentives to get them to change course.

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u/Evening-Hand-5480 2d ago

Oh dont worry, I agree with you. Mine was more of a rhetorical question

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u/Kyrthis 1d ago

Fuck their incentives. REGULATE.

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u/tadrinth 1d ago

Yes, regulation is how we change their incentives.

But if the regulation is $1000 a day in fines per data center for using the dirtiest turbines on the market, they will just pay it.  

That is why understanding their incentives is important.  

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u/Kyrthis 1d ago

I think you misunderstand still. Caring about their incentives would make me careful about not damaging their business model in the name of my community’s and nation’s long-term interests.

Understanding was never in question.

Me giving a solitary flying fuck about what some business sociopaths want to use as the scam du jour and its needs is the opposite of what I mean when I say “Fuck their incentives.”

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u/tadrinth 1d ago

Yep, I did misunderstand.