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The Data-Center Boom Is Sparking a Third Wave of Inflation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 - June

The Data-Center Boom Is Sparking a Third Wave of Inflation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 - June 2026 Gartner Says Data Center Electricity Consumption to Grow 26% in 2026 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48665985 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48665985 - June 2026 Nobody Here Wants the Data Center: An Oral History - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662607 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662607 - June 2026 Europe must choose between AI and climate goals, data center lobby says - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48637512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48637512 - June 2026 Datacenter boom keeps dirty coal plants alive in the US - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48465092 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48465092 - June 2026 Majority of US’s new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48447122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48447122 - June 2026 A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48446439 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48446439 - June 2026 Data Center Operators Are Trying to Fix Their Water Use Problems - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48401477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48401477 - June 2026 The US is now spending more on data center construction than on public transportation infrastructure - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48366144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48366144 - June 2026 Ohio hits pause on datacenter tax breaks draining its coffers - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361555 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361555 - June 2026 Tracking at: https://aidatacentermap.org/ https://aidatacentermap.org/ https://www.datacenterwatch.org/ https://www.datacenterwatch.org/ https://www.brockovichdatacenter.com/ https://www.brockovichdatacenter.com/

infecto 4mo ago
I only skimmed because what I saw was either no evidence or low. They to touched on demand but not immediately the correlation to price which is hard to connect without supply and other mechanics that go into different electric grid geographies. This feels very similar to the water argument or the anti-solar farm crowd. Lots of emotions and not as many facts. I am going to lean on the original research link.
- toomuchtodo 4mo ago
  No worries, voters are engaged so I am not concerned. Data centers are a third rail in politics at the moment. I encourage politicians and lobbyists to voice their support so we know who they are, as elections have consequences. ‘Cost Me the Election’: Data Centers Trigger Voter Backlash - https://www.newsweek.com/cost-me-the-election-data-centers-trigger-voter-backlash-12118327 https://www.newsweek.com/cost-me-the-election-data-centers-t... - June 25th, 2026 Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/j-stuart-adams-utah-senate-data-center.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/j-stuart-adams-utah-se... | https://archive.ph/MMot6 https://archive.ph/MMot6 - June 24th, 2026 Where Republicans and Democrats stand on AI data centers - https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/where-republicans-and-democrats-stand-ai-data-centers https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/where-republicans-and-democrats-... - June 12th, 2026 Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183512 - May 2026
  - infecto 4mo ago
    Why would anyone be worried? I was asking for actual science behind your claims. If you cannot it’s ok, just cements my thinking similar to the water claims people like to make. It’s the modern hysteria.
    - toomuchtodo 4mo ago
      My mental model of HN is there is a subset of forum participants who either don't believe the impact data centers are causing, or simply don't care. I’m not here to change hearts or minds (mental models are rigid, humans are emotion vs data driven); only to share data, and consume data. I believe the data shows data centers to have an outsized impact on the costs discussed. Others may disagree, but the facts are the facts, especially if we're asking schools to conserve power while serving data center loads (per this post and related thread). That is not a fact in support of "data center power consumption is not of material concern, and does not require potential regulatory intervention." Quote the opposite (again, imho). If data centers do not have enough power, the solution is simple; force them to load shed and operate dynamically based on the remaining power available to them until more power is brought online.
gruez 4mo ago
>The Data-Center Boom Is Sparking a Third Wave of Inflation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 - June 2026 The article says >Goldman Sachs economists forecast that data centers will account for nearly half of U.S. growth in power demand through 2030. As a result, they saw consumer electricity prices rising about 6% annually this year and next. but it also cautions >Even electricity accounts for only about 2.5% of consumer spending, according to the Labor Department. Electricity has gotten more expensive, it's only growing twice as fast. It's also unclear how much of that it's due to AI, as goldman sacs claims. For instance, if you look at the BLS figures for electricity prices, it shows a huge jump in 2021-2022, well before the datacenter boom started. Others have mentioned rates are going up due to modernization efforts and/or the switch to renewables. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SEHF01 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SEHF01
- infecto 4mo ago
  Thank you this. Super helpful. There were so many articles and most of them did not mention price I skipped through it aggressively. I wish there was more science driven reports based on what’s really happening. So much of it seems to be spun into people’s emotions that’s it’s hard to make sense of it. The public energy companies like to blame data centers but then data in certain geographies suggest otherwise. There was a good semi analysis months ago on how pricing I believe in New England was less about data centers and more on how inefficient the forward auction was constructed for prices there.

infecto 4mo ago

I only skimmed because what I saw was either no evidence or low. They to touched on demand but not immediately the correlation to price which is hard to connect without supply and other mechanics that go into different electric grid geographies. This feels very similar to the water argument or the anti-solar farm crowd. Lots of emotions and not as many facts. I am going to lean on the original research link.

toomuchtodo 4mo ago
No worries, voters are engaged so I am not concerned. Data centers are a third rail in politics at the moment. I encourage politicians and lobbyists to voice their support so we know who they are, as elections have consequences. ‘Cost Me the Election’: Data Centers Trigger Voter Backlash - https://www.newsweek.com/cost-me-the-election-data-centers-trigger-voter-backlash-12118327 https://www.newsweek.com/cost-me-the-election-data-centers-t... - June 25th, 2026 Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash - https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/j-stuart-adams-utah-senate-data-center.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/j-stuart-adams-utah-se... | https://archive.ph/MMot6 https://archive.ph/MMot6 - June 24th, 2026 Where Republicans and Democrats stand on AI data centers - https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/where-republicans-and-democrats-stand-ai-data-centers https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/where-republicans-and-democrats-... - June 12th, 2026 Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183512 - May 2026
- infecto 4mo ago
  Why would anyone be worried? I was asking for actual science behind your claims. If you cannot it’s ok, just cements my thinking similar to the water claims people like to make. It’s the modern hysteria.
  - toomuchtodo 4mo ago
    My mental model of HN is there is a subset of forum participants who either don't believe the impact data centers are causing, or simply don't care. I’m not here to change hearts or minds (mental models are rigid, humans are emotion vs data driven); only to share data, and consume data. I believe the data shows data centers to have an outsized impact on the costs discussed. Others may disagree, but the facts are the facts, especially if we're asking schools to conserve power while serving data center loads (per this post and related thread). That is not a fact in support of "data center power consumption is not of material concern, and does not require potential regulatory intervention." Quote the opposite (again, imho). If data centers do not have enough power, the solution is simple; force them to load shed and operate dynamically based on the remaining power available to them until more power is brought online.

gruez 4mo ago

>The Data-Center Boom Is Sparking a Third Wave of Inflation - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677039 - June 2026 The article says >Goldman Sachs economists forecast that data centers will account for nearly half of U.S. growth in power demand through 2030. As a result, they saw consumer electricity prices rising about 6% annually this year and next. but it also cautions >Even electricity accounts for only about 2.5% of consumer spending, according to the Labor Department. Electricity has gotten more expensive, it's only growing twice as fast. It's also unclear how much of that it's due to AI, as goldman sacs claims. For instance, if you look at the BLS figures for electricity prices, it shows a huge jump in 2021-2022, well before the datacenter boom started. Others have mentioned rates are going up due to modernization efforts and/or the switch to renewables. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SEHF01 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SEHF01

infecto 4mo ago
Thank you this. Super helpful. There were so many articles and most of them did not mention price I skipped through it aggressively. I wish there was more science driven reports based on what’s really happening. So much of it seems to be spun into people’s emotions that’s it’s hard to make sense of it. The public energy companies like to blame data centers but then data in certain geographies suggest otherwise. There was a good semi analysis months ago on how pricing I believe in New England was less about data centers and more on how inefficient the forward auction was constructed for prices there.