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We not only don't charge them, our governments actually give them money to do it. The Netherlands actually gave Microsoft 500 million euro in free energy credit
by tinco 6y ago
We not only don't charge them, our governments actually give them money to do it. The Netherlands actually gave Microsoft 500 million euro in free energy credit (by building them subsidized windmills) just so they would build their enormous data center here, an enormous datacenter that is going to employ only 125 people.
And those windmills, they were pitched to the people as being able to power 370.000 households. The kicker of course that they won't power even a single one, as 100% of the energy has been sold to Microsoft.
- tomglynch 6y agoWhile this outcome isn't best for the economy, it is a good solution for the environment, and perhaps that was the goal of the Netherlands.
- quercusgrisea 6y agoHow is that a better solution for the environment than using the windmills to power homes?
- tinco 6y agoThe municipality abused the subsidy to lure in a corporation instead of using it to power homes. It would've been better for the environment if Microsoft paid full dime for their own windmills and the subsidy was spent on something that actually reduced greenhouse gases.
- adriancr 6y ago500 mil$ to get a 2 bil euro datacenter. The datacente will then create revenue through services and add jobs. Jobs wont be just employees, you're going to have security, shipping, power plant jobs, recycling servers, etc. It also seems that they'll get some energy from datacenter heat back plus greenhouse heat... so a nice opportunity to do research and create bleeding edge facilities. It's also credits, as in Microsoft first invests and then gets free electricity for a while... Then there's a nice national security benefit having datacenter in your country. So overall a good deal...
- tinco 6y agoI suppose it is, still it's an abuse of the subsidy. They should have found some other way to give Microsoft 500 million. This way it's literally stealing from a fund that's meant to save the environment.