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Improper redaction reveals Google Data Center water and electricity usage

397 points · 517 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. numbsafari · · focus · HN ↗
        Also the unforced error around NDAs and attempts at bypassing environmental and other reviews. People don’t like the idea of their local elected officials bypassing the rules in the dark.

        I understand these companies want to move fast, but this seems to be one of those cases where going slow gets you there faster.

        1. tbrownaw · · focus · HN ↗
          > Also the unforced error around NDAs and attempts at bypassing environmental and other reviews.

          Hasn't it been common knowledge for a while -- as in since well before the ai boom -- that those reviews are in practice mostly tools for obstructionism (I don't want anything built) and extortion (fund this project and we'll drop our complaint), and are a significant chunk of why we suck at megaprojects in recent decades?

          Is that's even half true, I don't think the "unforced" there really applies.

          1. Forgeties79 · · focus · HN ↗
            Then let’s change the laws and regulations.

            In a society of laws you can’t just ignore the ones you don’t like, otherwise it undermines the entire system and suddenly the ones we all generally like/support aren’t being followed either.

            1. Gigachad · · focus · HN ↗
              Elon musk used his hundreds of billions of dollars to buy a social media platform to push a certain politician, bribed voters, and bought his way in to the government to fire everyone who would investigate his AI business.

              You can't just "change laws" when the people building these data centers control the laws.

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