The BANANAs pushback on data center construction risks ceding the global AI race and forfeiting tremendous opportunities for investment in energy infrastructure.
curious what survey would yield if question was "construction of a data center in your area to support cloud computing, SaaS, streaming, web hosting, data storage, etc.? This is over half of data center load, with AI at 15%, AI will increase over time, but would be interesting to see the survey results if discussing current data center use.
Agreed, more granular polling would be really helpful in this space. A lot of the reaction is really a proxy for sentiment around AI, which most people don’t pay for and only see when it’s recognizably slop.
Perhaps opponents don't like the costs to their communities to seize these "opportunities"? Water, grid instability, pollution from off-grid gas or diesel generation? Could it just be that once people know the true costs, they don't want to be the ones to pay them for others' profit?
Those communities around Musk's facilities are getting choked by emissions from mobile, behind-the-meter gas turbines and DOJ is moving to dismiss lawsuits against xAI before they can have their day in court. When regulators won't stand up for communities, outrage and opposition are only going to grow.
And yes, seen communities up close angry about threats to their water and energy security who are served by thinner rural grids. Can't share details publicly b/c of NDA.
That’s certainly the prime example of how NOT to site a data center. If you’ve read some of my prior work you’ll see I’m following this one pretty closely and side strongly with NAACP.
curious what survey would yield if question was "construction of a data center in your area to support cloud computing, SaaS, streaming, web hosting, data storage, etc.? This is over half of data center load, with AI at 15%, AI will increase over time, but would be interesting to see the survey results if discussing current data center use.
Agreed, more granular polling would be really helpful in this space. A lot of the reaction is really a proxy for sentiment around AI, which most people don’t pay for and only see when it’s recognizably slop.
Perhaps opponents don't like the costs to their communities to seize these "opportunities"? Water, grid instability, pollution from off-grid gas or diesel generation? Could it just be that once people know the true costs, they don't want to be the ones to pay them for others' profit?
Speaking from experience, Steven? Would love to know what the arrangement was in your community (and when it was negotiated).
I mean, you can't have missed this: https://wpln.org/post/as-elon-musks-xai-supercomputer-rankles-memphis-nashville-looks-to-regulate-data-centers/
Those communities around Musk's facilities are getting choked by emissions from mobile, behind-the-meter gas turbines and DOJ is moving to dismiss lawsuits against xAI before they can have their day in court. When regulators won't stand up for communities, outrage and opposition are only going to grow.
And yes, seen communities up close angry about threats to their water and energy security who are served by thinner rural grids. Can't share details publicly b/c of NDA.
That’s certainly the prime example of how NOT to site a data center. If you’ve read some of my prior work you’ll see I’m following this one pretty closely and side strongly with NAACP.