4 ms·
"Fairly big countries" is such a cop out. What do you mean by big? Population? Economy? Energy consumption? The original twitter post just says "More electrici
by icegreentea2 2y ago
"Fairly big countries" is such a cop out. What do you mean by big? Population? Economy? Energy consumption?
The original twitter post just says "More electricity than many countries". The fact that Google and Microsoft consume the same order magnitude of electricity as Nigeria (population 220 million), Ireland (population 5 million), Ecuador (18 million), Slovakia (5 million), Iceland (population 0.4 million), really just speaks the vast inequality in the world, even amongst countries.
It's interesting and relevant that Microsoft and Google are now "country scale", in terms of energy production. But when you realize that US energy consumption in 2023 was 4000TWh (MS and Google apparently each used 24), you realize just how non-serious this comparison is. The comparison can be thought provoking, but the actual results aren't particularly meaningful.
- bufferoverflow 2y agoA country with the population 220 million is big, no matter how you slice it.
- ClumsyPilot 2y agoIreland is sizeable first world country, the rest is polemics