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New Amazon Data Center Is Set to Have the Most Polluting Power Plant in the U.S.
- solenoid0937 2mo ago[flagged]
- sieabahlpark 2mo ago[dead]
- progbits 2mo agoMost polluting power plant so far This race to the bottom will have plenty more to give us in the coming years.
- vrganj 2mo ago[flagged]
- throwaway87411 2mo agoCommunism dried up the third largest lake in the world just for irrigation (while starving tens of millions in the meantime).
- Hikikomori 2mo agoWe only have two options.
- RobotToaster 2mo agoThe irrigation plan was in response to the famine, and it worked, it was the last famine in the soviet union.
- inigyou 2mo agoalso the soviet union was totalitarian, not communist
- s900mhz 2mo agoNo one mentioned communism?
- eth0up 2mo agoI think I get your point; that the inverse of corrupt (I call it fake) capitalism is not necessarily communism, or something reactive. It might just be a system that works better, even if we have not named it yet...
- k33n 2mo agoThe person you’re replying to did, when he pointed out that a communist regime wasted a ton of water.
- simianwords 2mo ago[flagged]
- vrganj 2mo agoEurope is burning, rivers are at all time lows, new temperature records ar being set every year, oceans are rising and you have the gall to demand we ignore the obvious?
- simianwords 2mo ago[flagged]
- OlivOnTech 2mo agoYou can find latest ipcc report (short version) here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6... Please share your sources saying it's not getting worse.
- simianwords 2mo ago[flagged]
- inigyou 2mo agoWhy would you measure the goodness of the future in GDP?
- mft_ 2mo agoHave you tried to satisfy your open-minded curiosity on this question? A simple Google search brings up: https://lancetcountdown.org/2025-report/ https://lancetcountdown.org/2025-report/ A couple of excerpts from the front page, without even registering to access the full report: 1.1.5 Heat-related mortality Failure to curb the warming effects of climate change has seen the rate of heat-related deaths surge 23% since the 1990s, to 546,000 a year. 1.2.1 Wildfires The risk of wildfires is growing: 2024 saw a record-high 154,000 estimated deaths from wildfire smoke-derived small particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5)
- thelastgallon 2mo agoA recent discussion The Gargantuan Lie That is Collapsing The World’s Climate: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208686 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208686
- croes 2mo agoIf we reach AGI at some point, it will wonder why we are so dumb
- vrganj 2mo agoIf we ever reach it, it will tell us "you destroyed any chance of survival in your quest to get to me first, dipshits."
- octocop 2mo agoBitcoin received a lot of backslash due to its power usage and ecological footprint. It's obvious that HN users don't have the same criticisms towards AI data centers. Maybe someone with a short position will coordinate that communication soon..
- pawelmurias 2mo agoBitcoin was just purely wasting power for a token only used for crime and speculation.
- k33n 2mo ago[flagged]
- goatlover 2mo agoWhat is climate extremism? Because it doesn't seem like the world is actually doing much to combat climate change as we see more fires and more extreme weather while still clinging to the old fossil fuel economy as long as possible.
- solid_fuel 2mo ago[flagged]
- embedding-shape 2mo agoSo even when xAI (which is now Tesla? Or SpaceX maybe?) was "operating dozens of unregulated gas turbines that worsen the air quality in one of the most polluted parts of the country"[0] this didn't place them above this new Amazon not-even-built-yet data center? Are they competing who can destroy the earth the fastest or what's going on? - [0] https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/musks-xai-is-being-sued-over-its-data-center-generators-now-its-buying-2-8b-more/ https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/musks-xai-is-being-sued-ov...
- tomComb 2mo agoIt seems wrong that Amazon should get in trouble for this when it was XAI that began this new race to the bottom. Peoplecheered xAI on and admired how quickly they were able to move, without much regard to the methods or legality. IMO competitors had no choice but to respond in kind when they see XAI not just getting away with it, but also getting a pass on legal issues.
- embedding-shape 2mo ago> It seems wrong that Amazon should get in trouble for this when it was XAI that began this new race to the bottom. Who gives a shit who started it? The ones who continue engaging in it, should clearly be punished as they're working against humanity's best interest of keeping this planet survivable. If you're one of the largest companies in the world, constantly brag about how environmental friendly you are and how much you care about "sustainability" or what the trendy word is today, and you end up building a data center that sets a record in pollution (either directly or indirectly), you're doing something massively fucked up and are misaligned with the rest of the people on this planet. > Peoplecheered xAI on and admired how quickly they were able to move, without much regard to the methods or legality. IMO competitors had no choice but to respond in kind when they see XAI not just getting away with it, but also getting a pass on legal issues. I guess this is what late-stage capitalism gives you ultimately, companies who feel like it's fine doing whatever because competitors are also doing whatever. No one I know have been cheering for anything like that, I suggest if you have people cheering about stuff like that near you, get far away.
- vineyardmike 2mo agoThose in power seem to think that a compute advantage is necessary to maintain economic advantage. Despite this, the voters universally hate data centers, so much so that both NY and TX have data center construction moratoriums. Despite this, those in power refuse any environmentally aware energy policy nor water policy. Despite this, companies have been trying to be environmentally aware for either moral or marketing purposes to get social permission to build DCs. Despite this, companies are “forced” to build their own “dirty” power sources since political power is disrupting green energy build out. Despite this, demand is still high so that compute costs are continuing to rise. Despite this, our economy is increasingly predicated on a few companies using more compute than geopolitical rivals with cheaper electricity. Despite this, those in power are, again, unwilling to create a compromising policy (aka clean energy) that voters actually would demand before tolerating more DCs. What’s going to lose first? Voters/environment, politicians/the oil lobby, big tech, or the overall american economy?
- vrganj 2mo agoThe entire planet will lose as ecosystems die out, food and water supplies run low, refugee crises and global conflicts ramp up. But hey, line go up!
- cyanydeez 2mo agoDon't worry; republicans are way ahead of that refugee crises by generation fervent far right ethnic nationalism globally, independently of course.
- simianwords 2mo ago[flagged]
- OlivOnTech 2mo agoDo you have any source? The global scientific community and more specifically the GIEC have been saying the opposite for years...
- mocana 2mo agoOk. A serious question. I frequently hear that wind and solar are the cheapest forms of electricity. Then why are they using gas turbines? Is it because they can generate more power with a smaller real estate footprint?
- unnamed76ri 2mo agoYou need a ton of land for solar and no renewable is as reliable as fossil fuels.
- unnamed76ri 2mo agoHN, where inconvenient truths get you downvoted
- swiftcoder 2mo agoUnder current administration, I'm not even sure its possible to build out green energy for this sort of thing at scale - this article[1] was on the front page just yesterday [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208314
- smallerize 2mo agoThe court cases are starting to have effect. https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/trump-is-losing-his-war-on-wind-power/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/trump-is-losing-his-...
- Schiendelman 2mo agoIt's because the permits are easier to get. It's very hard to get people to organize to make renewable energy permitting easier.
- MrToadMan 2mo agoIn some cases, aren’t the permits not even being sought? Eg https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pollution-musks-unpermitted-xai-power-project-hits-hardest-black-communities-2026-07-14/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pollution-musks-unper...
- jstummbillig 2mo agoNote that this is about absolute pollution, not relative to power output. Pollution is high, because power output is high. Relatively, for what it's worth, it's just a fairly normal gas plant. So the most interesting thing to take away from this: There is a lot of demand for more power and in this instance it's satisfied by gas. Which is still much better than coal. Which is still much worse than renewables.
- orbifold 2mo agoAll this AI doomerism is hiding the obvious and immediate harm that will cause a mass extinction event. Funnily enough people at Anthropic are predicting the end of the Anthropocene, completely absolving themselves from any responsibility for the actual reality that the Anthropocene is defined by human made geologically noticeable changes. Like causing a global climate catastrophe.
- inigyou 2mo agoMass extinction event already happened though. Most known species became extinct because of humans.
- ianm218 2mo agoThe existential risk people are worried about a much shorter timeline - like the next 5-10 years. Climate change is serious but very unlikely to lead to anything like ending the Anthropocene in the next 5 years.
- ch0wn 2mo ago400,000 people in Europe are displaced. Pretending that this is a future issue is tremendously disingenuous. Things don't need to be civilisation-ending to cause a degree of harm that is worth focusing on.
- ianm218 2mo agoThe OP is literally talking about “mass extinction”, it’s not a real concern that climate change will cause mass extinction in the next 5 years. It should absolutely be focused on anyway. I don’t know how you got the other impression. The US gov paying to stop windmills and solar is insane.
- DennisP 2mo agoIt's possible to have more than one existential risk at a time. We even have a third, since nuclear war doesn't seem completely impossible these days. We probably shouldn't ignore any of them.
- llm_nerd 2mo agoA lot of new data centres have been announced in Alberta, Canada. Which is a weird location given that Alberta has a derelict power grid that can barely serve the current load, and runs almost entirely on fossil fuels. Meta, for instance, plans a $13B data centre in Sturgeon County. https://www.vozpopuli.com/indux/en/alberta-approved-a-932-megawatt-gas-plant-whose-only-customer-is-meta-powering-its-first-canadian-data-center-behind-the-meter/7932/ https://www.vozpopuli.com/indux/en/alberta-approved-a-932-me... They all plan on powering them by building massive natural gas generating stations with each. In a free for all race to destroy the environment and doom humanity (aside from your plutocrats who'll live in their bunkers). Until a week or so ago Meta still had a clean energy pledge, but finally they just abandoned that silly greenwashing lie: https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/meta-quits-clean-energy-pledge-002139627.html https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/meta-quits-clean-e... We are basically in the end game now, and despite that weird guy running through these comments telling everyone how great everything is going to be in a hundred years, things are looking utterly grim.
- inigyou 2mo agoOh, Alberta. That makes sense. Land of pissed off coal miners, isn't it?
- rjrjrjrj 2mo agoMuch more the land of oil and gas. Alberta no longer burns coal for electricity. The dominant political party frames natural gas as "clean", because it isn't a dirty as coal; and Alberta natural gas in particular as "ethical", because not Russia or Saudi.
- jeffrallen 2mo agoYou know, we don't actually have to do this. The people could block the gates and prevent the delivery of the turbines. The local fire department could fail their inspection and prevent the gas from being turned on. The UPS could "mysteriously" go up in smoke during it's commissioning. None of this is preordained. We, the phyical persons, can choose how we want to live, and what constraints the corporate persons must accept.
- hollow-moe 2mo agoAll this at the very low cost of: your job. You can't have an unbreachable blockade 24/7 in front of there, very soon they'd send police to disperse. Fire dept has to justify the failing, if everything up to code and the inspector make it fail it will delay for at most a week and the guy will lose his credibility. The guys delivering and installing the UPS are just trying to make a living too, destroying the thing will get them fired while only delaying a little the time getting another delivered. You are replaceable.
- inigyou 2mo agoDo you think the rest of your life will be of very high quality in any scenario?
- techgnosis 2mo agoYeah if you want to end up in the US penal system. I assure you, you do not. I know I don't.
- RobotToaster 2mo agoWho could have predicted that Microsoft building their own nuclear reactor would be the lesser evil.
- gla67890543 2mo agoNow no one talks about global warming and climate change.
- xnx 2mo agoAren't coal power plants waaaay more polluting than natural gas? Not just in terms of C02, but also really nasty stuff like particulates, sulphur, and metals? It's very trendy right now to get mad at datacenters, but I'd much rather energy come from natural gas than from an existing coal power plant. (Obviously, renewables would be better than either.)
- DennisP 2mo agoThe nasty stuff, yes. Regarding greenhouse gases, natural gas has turned out to be about as bad as coal once you account for methane leaks, and the industry has strenuously resisted any decent mitigation for that.
- burnt-resistor 2mo agoDifferent. Burn enough natural gas in enough gas turbines, and significant quantities of formaldehyde and NOx will be created.
- trentor 2mo agoDownvote me all you want. China is doing something right. Nuclear, renewables, whatever the mix, they're not parking gas turbines next to a data center and calling it a power strategy. That US tech companies reached for that first tells you everything. Speed over consequences, every time. And shut up about that China still fires a lot of coal. They are phasing it out... the right way.
- throwaway2037 2mo ago[dead]
- brikym 2mo agoOn this map I can't see _any_ nuclear under construction in the US yet the rest of the world seems to be building many. When a man has a hammer everything is a gas turbine. GEV stock has treated me well but I'd much rather nuclear was winning. It's a catch22 problem because nuclear is much slower to build than a data center so there is no demand from the data centers. And the nuclear plant doesn't know the demand will be there in 5 years once with gas soaking up demand. So the build it and they will come strategy is risky. Building infrastructure is like a muscle that gets stronger with repetitions. The cost will only come down once some are built but nobody wants to build at the current high prices. Govt help is needed to kick start it.
- burger_moon 2mo agoDOE is investing heavily in SMRs right now. There's 4 which have reached criticality so far. Chris Wright the DOE head is a o&g political appointee hack, but the career employees at DOE are working on pushing clean energy forward. https://nric.inl.gov/news/ https://nric.inl.gov/news/
- ViewTrick1002 2mo agoThe world isn’t building nuclear power. It’s simply too slow to build and expensive to be relevant.
- brikym 2mo agoThat's not true though. China has ~20 plants under construction.
- dbcooper 2mo agoZero data on Greenhouse gas CO2-equivalent per kWh. A combined-cycle gas power plant is going to have lower impact per kWh than the 200+ coal plants in the US.
- gizajob 2mo agoreally time for these companies to have to switch to options like Nuclear SMR from providers like Rolls Royce who already have the megawatt solutions ready in the market, which don't release giant volumes of CO2 which we cannot afford.
- mrpopo 2mo agoDivest all your stocks from all this AI data-center race bullshit, invest into renewable projects. Worst case, the orange buffoon will bail you out with taxpayer money to prevent the US grid from being too clean or something. Only money talks in the US.
- deadlast2 2mo agoI am sure if these guys worked on it they could have better PR. It is like AI is the modern version of the oil industry.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 2mo ago1786171869 | Amazon behind private gas plant for new data centers | https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/amazon-behind-massive-private-gas-210211828.html https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/amazon-behind-mass... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49219445 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49219445 1786121329 | Scoop: Amazon Is Behind One of the Largest Planned Gas Power Plants in the US | https://www.distilled.earth/p/scoop-amazon-is-behind-one-of-the https://www.distilled.earth/p/scoop-amazon-is-behind-one-of-... 1786014051 | AWS eyes potential data center development at 4.5GW natural gas plant in Pennsylvania | https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/aws-eyes-potential-data-center-development-at-45gw-natural-gas-plant-in-pennsylvania/ https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/aws-eyes-potentia... 1786181141 | 'Better ways to use gas': Amazon finances massive US plant for data centres | https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3363393/amazon-finance-huge-us-gas-plant-data-centres https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article... 1786202472 | Amazon plans massive Texas AI campus and an enormous gas power plant | https://www.chron.com/news/article/amazon-texas-data-center-nation-s-polluting-power-22380078.php https://www.chron.com/news/article/amazon-texas-data-center-... 1784098800 | Amazon to install hundreds of gas-fired generators at Bucks County data center site | https://whyy.org/articles/amazon-data-center-bucks-county-pa-gas-generators-impact/ https://whyy.org/articles/amazon-data-center-bucks-county-pa... 1786140583 | Amazon Is Building America's Biggest Fossil Fuel Plant to Power AI | https://heatmap.news/energy/amazon-gw-ranch https://heatmap.news/energy/amazon-gw-ranch 1786173935 | Amazon Backs 7.65-GW Gas Plant in Texas to Power New AI Data Center Campus | https://constructionreviewonline.com/amazon-backs-7-65-gw-gas-plant-in-texas-to-power-new-ai-data-center-campus/ https://constructionreviewonline.com/amazon-backs-7-65-gw-ga... 1786131006 | Amazon Is Creating the Biggest Pollution Source in the Entire Country | https://newrepublic.com/post/214111/amazon-data-center-biggest-pollution-source-entire-country https://newrepublic.com/post/214111/amazon-data-center-bigge... 1784358000 | Pennsylvania set to approve 283 new generators at Amazon data center despite objections | https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/amazon-data-center-bucks-county-fossil-fuel-generators/ https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/amazon-data-center-bu... 1780556400 | What the rise of natural gas-powered data centers means for emission-reduction pledges | https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/06/04/data-centers-are-driving-demand-for-gas-from-northwest-utilities-reports-find/ https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/06/04/data-centers-a...
- ares623 2mo agoFinally, a structure worthy of its namesake.
- Animats 2mo ago7 GW! All California load is 35GW right now.
- CamWebsites 2mo ago[dead]