Changing My Vote For Governor

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

I cannot support Jocelyn Benson because of her support of data centers. She has a husband who profits off of them. I am not crazy about voting for a cop, but I feel data centers represent an existential threat to our state’s best natural resource: water.

[GrahamWellington]

I find it ironic that the people so opposed to any and all data centers are often the ones that use all sorts of digital avenues to get the word out. Kind of like someone that would use a Super Duty diesel truck to travel the countryside warning about the dangers of global warming.

[bmw]

I find it ironic that the people so opposed to any and all data centers are often the ones that use all sorts of digital avenues to get the word out. Kind of like someone that would use a Super Duty diesel truck to travel the countryside warning about the dangers of global warming.

I find it ironic that many of the people so opposed to incandescent light bulbs or any other energy hog turn a blind eye to the energy used by data centers.

[djb]

Considering most (new) datacenter builds are closed-loop/air cooled - I fail to understand what all the hubbub is about.

[thatonedude]

Considering most (new) datacenter builds are closed-loop/air cooled - I fail to understand what all the hubbub is about.

Google is your friend. An example from Georgia:
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/0 ... r-00909988

[TC Talks]

Considering most (new) datacenter builds are closed-loop/air cooled - I fail to understand what all the hubbub is about.

Are they air cooled? Why is there so.mich discussion about accessing local water?

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

I find it ironic that the people so opposed to any and all data centers are often the ones that use all sorts of digital avenues to get the word out. Kind of like someone that would use a Super Duty diesel truck to travel the countryside warning about the dangers of global warming.

We had Internet for 30+ years without them. We don’t need them, asshole.

They are literally making people sick. The are turning water brown. And when they don’t turn water brown, they are drying up river beds. And yes, they are literally tearing down million dollar houses to build new fucking transmission lines in Georgia. Think about that.

[km1125]

Considering most (new) datacenter builds are closed-loop/air cooled - I fail to understand what all the hubbub is about.

That could be one of the conditions for approval. Or there could be a hard cap on water usage. Perhaps "0" gallons from aquifer, and some let max gallons from the local water utility.

I wonder if any of the proposed data centers would still be as interested if you said they had to use air-cooled heat management?

[GrahamWellington]

I find it ironic that the people so opposed to any and all data centers are often the ones that use all sorts of digital avenues to get the word out. Kind of like someone that would use a Super Duty diesel truck to travel the countryside warning about the dangers of global warming.

We had Internet for 30+ years without them. We don’t need them, asshole.

They are literally making people sick. The are turning water brown. And when they don’t turn water brown, they are drying up river beds. And yes, they are literally tearing down million dollar houses to build new fucking transmission lines in Georgia. Think about that.

Ummm...I'd say "the Internet" has developed and advanced just a bit over the past 30+ years.

[bmw]

The PROBLEM with current data centers is their energy density relative to the space they take up. According to the US Department of Energy, they consume anywhere from 10x to 50x the amount of electricity, per square foot, compared to other commercial uses of real estate.

https://www.google.com/search?q=data+ce ... e&ie=UTF-8

Then you look at the projections, that data centers will skyrocket to anywhere from 7 to 12 percent of the total energy used in the US by 2028, and upwards of 20 percent by 2035. Then you tack on to that the increased demand for energy to charge electric car batteries, and I see a real energy crisis in about 10 years.

As much as our government loves to mandate energy efficiency on everything, they should be mandating minimum percentages of total energy consumption by data centers to be green (or even better, green AND locally generated on-site). I see a few states are moving in this direction, but it needs to be a nation-wide effort.

[MWmetalhead]

The PROBLEM with current data centers is their energy density relative to the space they take up. According to the US Department of Energy, they consume anywhere from 10x to 50x the amount of electricity, per square foot, compared to other commercial uses of real estate.

https://www.google.com/search?q=data+ce ... e&ie=UTF-8

Then you look at the projections, that data centers will skyrocket to anywhere from 7 to 12 percent of the total energy used in the US by 2028, and upwards of 20 percent by 2035. Then you tack on to that the increased demand for energy to charge electric car batteries, and I see a real energy crisis in about 10 years.

As much as our government loves to mandate energy efficiency on everything, they should be mandating minimum percentages of total energy consumption by data centers to be green (or even better, green AND locally generated on-site). I see a few states are moving in this direction, but it needs to be a nation-wide effort.

Outstanding post. Very informative. I agree with your thoughts here.

In terms of the water consumption issue, some (not all) data centers use evaporative cooling to maintain proper temperature. The massive one in Georgia uses such a method. They should be levied a very big fine for the illegal water system hookup, in my opinion.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

The PROBLEM with current data centers is their energy density relative to the space they take up. According to the US Department of Energy, they consume anywhere from 10x to 50x the amount of electricity, per square foot, compared to other commercial uses of real estate.

https://www.google.com/search?q=data+ce ... e&ie=UTF-8

Then you look at the projections, that data centers will skyrocket to anywhere from 7 to 12 percent of the total energy used in the US by 2028, and upwards of 20 percent by 2035. Then you tack on to that the increased demand for energy to charge electric car batteries, and I see a real energy crisis in about 10 years.

As much as our government loves to mandate energy efficiency on everything, they should be mandating minimum percentages of total energy consumption by data centers to be green (or even better, green AND locally generated on-site). I see a few states are moving in this direction, but it needs to be a nation-wide effort.

Yes and the consumer pays for it.

[Rate This]

The PROBLEM with current data centers is their energy density relative to the space they take up. According to the US Department of Energy, they consume anywhere from 10x to 50x the amount of electricity, per square foot, compared to other commercial uses of real estate.

https://www.google.com/search?q=data+ce ... e&ie=UTF-8

Then you look at the projections, that data centers will skyrocket to anywhere from 7 to 12 percent of the total energy used in the US by 2028, and upwards of 20 percent by 2035. Then you tack on to that the increased demand for energy to charge electric car batteries, and I see a real energy crisis in about 10 years.

As much as our government loves to mandate energy efficiency on everything, they should be mandating minimum percentages of total energy consumption by data centers to be green (or even better, green AND locally generated on-site). I see a few states are moving in this direction, but it needs to be a nation-wide effort.

Yes and the consumer pays for it.

The consumer paying for it is how the game works. Or at least how it’s supposed to work.

[MotorCityRadioFreak]

The PROBLEM with current data centers is their energy density relative to the space they take up. According to the US Department of Energy, they consume anywhere from 10x to 50x the amount of electricity, per square foot, compared to other commercial uses of real estate.

https://www.google.com/search?q=data+ce ... e&ie=UTF-8

Then you look at the projections, that data centers will skyrocket to anywhere from 7 to 12 percent of the total energy used in the US by 2028, and upwards of 20 percent by 2035. Then you tack on to that the increased demand for energy to charge electric car batteries, and I see a real energy crisis in about 10 years.

As much as our government loves to mandate energy efficiency on everything, they should be mandating minimum percentages of total energy consumption by data centers to be green (or even better, green AND locally generated on-site). I see a few states are moving in this direction, but it needs to be a nation-wide effort.

Yes and the consumer pays for it.

The consumer paying for it is how the game works. Or at least how it’s supposed to work.

if by consumer, you mean the company, yes. As of right now, they want to shift the costs to us residential customers.

[Rate This]

The PROBLEM with current data centers is their energy density relative to the space they take up. According to the US Department of Energy, they consume anywhere from 10x to 50x the amount of electricity, per square foot, compared to other commercial uses of real estate.

https://www.google.com/search?q=data+ce ... e&ie=UTF-8

Then you look at the projections, that data centers will skyrocket to anywhere from 7 to 12 percent of the total energy used in the US by 2028, and upwards of 20 percent by 2035. Then you tack on to that the increased demand for energy to charge electric car batteries, and I see a real energy crisis in about 10 years.

As much as our government loves to mandate energy efficiency on everything, they should be mandating minimum percentages of total energy consumption by data centers to be green (or even better, green AND locally generated on-site). I see a few states are moving in this direction, but it needs to be a nation-wide effort.

Yes and the consumer pays for it.

The consumer paying for it is how the game works. Or at least how it’s supposed to work.

if by consumer, you mean the company, yes. As of right now, they want to shift the costs to us residential customers.

Initially I thought you meant the latter realized that and fixed it so yeah I mean the companies as direct consumers of the energy. The downside is that they will always factor those costs into the price of their products. That’s also how it works.