Thread

1. stingraycharles · 1790769649 · 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 · 1790771200 · 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. thenthenthen · 1790773362 · focus · HN ↗

         Mmm most datacenters i went to were in the middle of nowhere, sharing land with farms (and oil/gas mining)

         1. n4r9 · 1790774098 · focus · HN ↗

            > we demonstrate that data centers are an overwhelmingly urban phenomenon, with 97.5% of facilities situated in metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas

            <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;s44284-026-00487-z" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;s44284-026-00487-z

            1. Aurornis · 1790774455 · focus · HN ↗

               “Metropolitan area” is doing a lot of work. Every metropolitan area I’ve lived or worked in has had industrial areas, too. Those industrial areas have buildings that use a lot of electricity, water, or natural gas and produce a lot of noise.

               This isn’t some unusual outcome. It’s like one of those maps that purports to show one thing but really just shows population density.

               1. jeffbee · 1790775470 · focus · HN ↗

                  Also using N as the denominator, instead of weighting by floor area?
               2. n4r9 · 1790775539 · focus · HN ↗

                  The point is that they create a heavy and volatile local water demand on those metropolitan areas.

                  1. BikiniPrince · 1790778052 · focus · HN ↗

                     Industry uses resources and they pay for those resources at significant cost. It’s not a surprise when the pipes are enabled.

                     1. n4r9 · 1790848829 · focus · HN ↗

                        If the data center is built despite multiple demands to desist, then it may not be a surprise per se, but it can still be an unaccounted stress on local resources.
               3. jmye · 1790779226 · focus · HN ↗

                  [dead]

               4. Joakal · 1790781614 · focus · HN ↗

                  Most data centres in Australia (even the announced biggest one in the Southern Hemisphere) are close to a water processing plant in an industrial zone in Sydney. The same plant that supplies 85% of Sydney with drinking water. At least there&#x27;s an upgrade.

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