‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Most data centers refusing to say how much water, electricity they use

216 points · 199 comments · Thom2503

  1. stingraycharles · · focus · HN ↗
    Playing the devil’s advocate: don’t “freedom of information” laws mostly apply to government agencies? If so, why would a private company provide this information?

    I personally believe at the very least the water usage is heavily overblown compared to the agriculture industry. Elecricity is a different issue, and governments should consider reporting requirements or something like that.

    Being angry with datacenter providers is not the solution. And they also need to be built somewhere, and that place is probably best where electricity is abundant and/or cheap.

    1. n4r9 · · focus · HN ↗
      > the water usage is heavily overblown compared to the agriculture industry

      Data centers tend to concentrate their water usage within urban areas, causing a strain on local resources. The value of their output is much less tangible. Their water consumption scales up around tenfold if you consider the indirect usage from generating the electricity.

      But on the other hand; yes, it would also help enormously if people ate less meat.

      1. SiempreViernes · · focus · HN ↗
        > But on the other hand; yes, it would also help enormously if people ate less meat.

        At first you had me, but then I realised it's not true if the price is building more data centres! That was just a trick to make the climate worse! Grr /s

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.