5 ms·

Well, we can see it coming, but we are doing very little about

inigyou 2mo ago
We've been seeing our own certain destruction from climate change coming since the 70s. The 1870s. We had two entire lifetimes to do something about it, we didn't. Except those guys throwing soup at the fossil fuel HQs. They did a little.
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
windexh8er 2mo ago
We're building more data centers for a technology that's ramping global warming even faster. Water consumption, heat generation and tons and tons of CO2 emitting concrete to house these things. So we're doing something, but those things are counterproductive to our planet's general well being. Apparently billionaires don't need an inhabitable Earth to live on.
- inigyou 2mo ago
  DC water consumption is a red herring. That water is returned back to its source but warmer.
  - windexh8er 2mo ago
    If you think that every data center is now a closed loop system enjoy your propaganda. Colossus 1 and 2 still use open loop systems. And with the case of blow down water that's "returned" it's not usable due to the use of concentrated salts (1,200 to 6,000 mg/L). In your mind this is a closed loop system of clean water. It is not. And as DCs have less and less discharge there is more and more solid waste produced. Your assertion that "water consumption is a red herring" is utter bull shit. I'd suggest enlightening yourself [0][1][2][3]. [0] https://genesiswatertech.com/blog-post/advanced-blowdown-treatment-technologies-for-data-center-water-recovery/ https://genesiswatertech.com/blog-post/advanced-blowdown-tre... [1] https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/TP121/how-data-centers-impact-surface-and-ground-waters/ https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/TP121/how-data... [2] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.21760 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.21760 [3] https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/epa-writing-permits-could-let-182418731.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/epa-writing-perm...
    - dredmorbius 2mo ago
      <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48055532 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48055532>
      - windexh8er 2mo ago
        Unfounded comments that are nothing but a lie are OK. Yet, calling it out directly goes against the rules. In this case the response is warranted. Until people start to see what actually goes on in these data centers with respect to pollution (of many kinds) I don't have a problem being direct.
        dredmorbius 2mo ago
        What the link I'd shared stated was "Please edit out swipes, as the site guidelines ask". It also states "Your comment would be fine without that ... bit." I frequently address poorly-founded comments myself. Just did immediately before this reply, see: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064763 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064763> ( I'm doing so both staying within the guidelines and specifically calling out the idiocy displayed, though without relying on that particular word. Calling out Guidelines violations does not imply disagreement with what's been said otherwise. It is a call for more substantive participation, and probably strengthening your own arguments. You've been here long enough that all of this should be quite familiar to you. (I'm not a mod, which is why I'd initially linked a mod's own admonition.)
        windexh8er 2mo ago
        > You've been here long enough that all of this should be quite familiar to you. ... > (I'm not a mod, which is why I'd initially linked a mod's own admonition.) Maybe stay in your own lane then, I explained myself and the unfounded lie. My response, in my opinion, is warranted.
        dredmorbius 2mo ago
  - CGMthrowaway 2mo ago
    Yes, just like cow farts.
    - inigyou 2mo ago
      Cow burps are a significant contributor to global warming, like 10%. There are just so many damn cows and their digestive systems produce methane.
- asats 2mo ago
  Yeah, data-centers are definitely the worst thing happening to the planet. You got your priorities straight. AI data centers are what, half a percent of the world electricity consumption, if that, and an even smaller fraction of the total energy?
  - dredmorbius 2mo ago
    Growth trend matters more than absolute present value. Data centres generally had been seeing energy use growing at 12% annually, or with a doubling time of 5.8 years (about 5 years 10 months). AI is accelerating that trend. In the United States, power consumption by data centres is on course to account for almost half of the growth in electricity demand between now and 2030. Driven by AI use, the US economy is set to consume more electricity in 2030 for processing data than for manufacturing all energy-intensive goods combined, including aluminium, steel, cement and chemicals. In advanced economies more broadly, data centres are projected to drive more than 20% of the growth in electricity demand between now and 2030, putting the power sector in those economies back on a growth footing after years of stagnating or declining demand in many of them. <https://www.iea.org/news/ai-is-set-to-drive-surging-electricity-demand-from-data-centres-while-offering-the-potential-to-transform-how-the-energy-sector-works https://www.iea.org/news/ai-is-set-to-drive-surging-electric...>
    - asats 2mo ago
      >or with a doubling time of 5.8 years So that in ~6 years they will account for 1%, and still a fraction of the percent of the world total energy use?
      - dredmorbius 2mo ago
        Modulo, as noted, AI is accelerating that trend.
      - myaccountonhn 2mo ago
        1% is a lot.
      - 2mo ago
CGMthrowaway 2mo ago
We are doing a lot. Almost 90% of electricity capacity added last year was renewables. Nearly 1 in 3 cars sold are now EVs. The world is spending over $2 trillion every year on low‑carbon energy investment. Solar and wind have already avoided more than 2 gigatons of C02 being added to the atmosphere. In the US, the IRA will drop emissions 40% to below 2005 levels. What do you mean we are doing very little?
- logtempo 2mo ago
  It should be at the level od the economy of war but worldwide. The majority reacted too late to have the possibility to act slowly.
- bluefirebrand 2mo ago
  > We are doing a lot. Almost 90% of electricity capacity added last year was renewables New capacity being electric is fine but we need to be actively removing fossil fuels from existing capacity, which isn't actually happening. We're just building new capacity on top of old existing fossil fuels. So sure, it's nice that a majority of new capacity is green, but we're still burning more fossil fuels year over year
- akamaka 2mo ago
  I’ve had the same discussion with many people, and when I tell them how much work is done on cleaning up carbon emissions, the reply is always “well… it’s not enough”. And of course, they don’t have a sense of what is “enough”. They don’t really understand it in a factual, measurable way, but just are interesting in what the overall story is, and what it says about humanity failing.
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]
  - myaccountonhn 2mo ago
    Both can be true: we are doing a lot, and it's not enough.

We've been seeing our own certain destruction from climate change coming since the 70s. The 1870s. We had two entire lifetimes to do something about it, we didn't. Except those guys throwing soup at the fossil fuel HQs. They did a little.

deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]

windexh8er 2mo ago

We're building more data centers for a technology that's ramping global warming even faster. Water consumption, heat generation and tons and tons of CO2 emitting concrete to house these things. So we're doing something, but those things are counterproductive to our planet's general well being. Apparently billionaires don't need an inhabitable Earth to live on.

inigyou 2mo ago
DC water consumption is a red herring. That water is returned back to its source but warmer.
- windexh8er 2mo ago
  If you think that every data center is now a closed loop system enjoy your propaganda. Colossus 1 and 2 still use open loop systems. And with the case of blow down water that's "returned" it's not usable due to the use of concentrated salts (1,200 to 6,000 mg/L). In your mind this is a closed loop system of clean water. It is not. And as DCs have less and less discharge there is more and more solid waste produced. Your assertion that "water consumption is a red herring" is utter bull shit. I'd suggest enlightening yourself [0][1][2][3]. [0] https://genesiswatertech.com/blog-post/advanced-blowdown-treatment-technologies-for-data-center-water-recovery/ https://genesiswatertech.com/blog-post/advanced-blowdown-tre... [1] https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/TP121/how-data-centers-impact-surface-and-ground-waters/ https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/TP121/how-data... [2] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.21760 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.21760 [3] https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/epa-writing-permits-could-let-182418731.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/epa-writing-perm...
  - dredmorbius 2mo ago
    <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48055532 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48055532>
    - windexh8er 2mo ago
      Unfounded comments that are nothing but a lie are OK. Yet, calling it out directly goes against the rules. In this case the response is warranted. Until people start to see what actually goes on in these data centers with respect to pollution (of many kinds) I don't have a problem being direct.
      - dredmorbius 2mo ago
        What the link I'd shared stated was "Please edit out swipes, as the site guidelines ask". It also states "Your comment would be fine without that ... bit." I frequently address poorly-founded comments myself. Just did immediately before this reply, see: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064763 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064763> ( I'm doing so both staying within the guidelines and specifically calling out the idiocy displayed, though without relying on that particular word. Calling out Guidelines violations does not imply disagreement with what's been said otherwise. It is a call for more substantive participation, and probably strengthening your own arguments. You've been here long enough that all of this should be quite familiar to you. (I'm not a mod, which is why I'd initially linked a mod's own admonition.)
        windexh8er 2mo ago
        > You've been here long enough that all of this should be quite familiar to you. ... > (I'm not a mod, which is why I'd initially linked a mod's own admonition.) Maybe stay in your own lane then, I explained myself and the unfounded lie. My response, in my opinion, is warranted.
        dredmorbius 2mo ago
- CGMthrowaway 2mo ago
  Yes, just like cow farts.
  - inigyou 2mo ago
    Cow burps are a significant contributor to global warming, like 10%. There are just so many damn cows and their digestive systems produce methane.
asats 2mo ago
Yeah, data-centers are definitely the worst thing happening to the planet. You got your priorities straight. AI data centers are what, half a percent of the world electricity consumption, if that, and an even smaller fraction of the total energy?
- dredmorbius 2mo ago
  Growth trend matters more than absolute present value. Data centres generally had been seeing energy use growing at 12% annually, or with a doubling time of 5.8 years (about 5 years 10 months). AI is accelerating that trend. In the United States, power consumption by data centres is on course to account for almost half of the growth in electricity demand between now and 2030. Driven by AI use, the US economy is set to consume more electricity in 2030 for processing data than for manufacturing all energy-intensive goods combined, including aluminium, steel, cement and chemicals. In advanced economies more broadly, data centres are projected to drive more than 20% of the growth in electricity demand between now and 2030, putting the power sector in those economies back on a growth footing after years of stagnating or declining demand in many of them. <https://www.iea.org/news/ai-is-set-to-drive-surging-electricity-demand-from-data-centres-while-offering-the-potential-to-transform-how-the-energy-sector-works https://www.iea.org/news/ai-is-set-to-drive-surging-electric...>
  - asats 2mo ago
    >or with a doubling time of 5.8 years So that in ~6 years they will account for 1%, and still a fraction of the percent of the world total energy use?
    - dredmorbius 2mo ago
      Modulo, as noted, AI is accelerating that trend.
    - myaccountonhn 2mo ago
      1% is a lot.
    - 2mo ago

CGMthrowaway 2mo ago

We are doing a lot. Almost 90% of electricity capacity added last year was renewables. Nearly 1 in 3 cars sold are now EVs. The world is spending over $2 trillion every year on low‑carbon energy investment. Solar and wind have already avoided more than 2 gigatons of C02 being added to the atmosphere. In the US, the IRA will drop emissions 40% to below 2005 levels. What do you mean we are doing very little?

logtempo 2mo ago
It should be at the level od the economy of war but worldwide. The majority reacted too late to have the possibility to act slowly.
bluefirebrand 2mo ago
> We are doing a lot. Almost 90% of electricity capacity added last year was renewables New capacity being electric is fine but we need to be actively removing fossil fuels from existing capacity, which isn't actually happening. We're just building new capacity on top of old existing fossil fuels. So sure, it's nice that a majority of new capacity is green, but we're still burning more fossil fuels year over year
akamaka 2mo ago
I’ve had the same discussion with many people, and when I tell them how much work is done on cleaning up carbon emissions, the reply is always “well… it’s not enough”. And of course, they don’t have a sense of what is “enough”. They don’t really understand it in a factual, measurable way, but just are interesting in what the overall story is, and what it says about humanity failing.
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- myaccountonhn 2mo ago
  Both can be true: we are doing a lot, and it's not enough.