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Improper redaction reveals Google Data Center water and electricity usage

384 points · 503 comments · sensanaty

  1. aliasxneo · · focus · HN ↗
    I lived in a smaller rural town near a Google datacenter. During my career there I had routinely come across some outlandish accusations made about our water/power usage from the locals. But for obvious reasons I could never dispute them. I remember we hired a local who'd grown up in the town and he was "really surprised" when he started to see what we were doing to remain efficient.

    The current data center craze just feels like the same thing but on a bigger scale.

    1. WarmWash · · focus · HN ↗
      The current hysteria has little to do with datacenters and a lot to do with societal unrest about AI.
      1. toddmorey · · focus · HN ↗
        I mean, the latest ones are massive. Climate concerns aside, data centers don’t make great neighbors. They are never a net positive for the local community.
        1. WarmWash · · focus · HN ↗
          >They are never a net positive for the local community

          Nobody talks about the local taxes they pay. Its the reason these town councils rush approvals through. My town would chain children to trees to stop a DC, but if they found out it would halve our property taxes, people would volunteer to cut down the trees themselves.

          The problem is though that the town council generally wants to do dumb shit pet hobby projects rather than give everyone a tax break.

          1. lostlogin · · focus · HN ↗
            > Nobody talks about the local taxes they pay.

            We hear about their tax breaks though. Why don’t they get treated the same as other local businesses, and pay the same rates?

            1. EgregiousCube · · focus · HN ↗
              Because the tax revenue of them not coming there is zero, and the tax revenue after the breaks is very significant.
          2. Gigachad · · focus · HN ↗
            The datacenter companies are forcing local governments to sign NDAs so they can't discuss the details with other areas, leading to them being pressured in to taking horrible deals that are a net negative for the area without.

            They force these NDAs so people can't collaborate and see what a horrible deal they are getting.

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