As someone that has worked in data centers and now is working adjacent to data centers (and I make a higher salary because of data centers), greenhouse emissions isn’t so much the problem.
The bigger problem is that planned data centers are are demanding more power than exists on the grid. This is setting us back from our plans to greenify the grid, like the article mentioned, it’s causing coal plants to remain open.
While there will be a need for data centers, and even AI data centers, the reality is that we are in an AI bubble right now. While probably near every data center in existence right now, will probably continue to be operated, many of the data centers being built in the next 5 will not. Understanding where the data center industry will be in 5 years is key to understanding how we should maintain and improve our grid. Right now we are on a path to rolling blackouts, and that will increase emissions too, and generally make life worse for everyone.
As someone that has worked in data centers and now is working adjacent to data centers (and I make a higher salary because of data centers), greenhouse emissions isn’t so much the problem.
The bigger problem is that planned data centers are are demanding more power than exists on the grid. This is setting us back from our plans to greenify the grid, like the article mentioned, it’s causing coal plants to remain open.
While there will be a need for data centers, and even AI data centers, the reality is that we are in an AI bubble right now. While probably near every data center in existence right now, will probably continue to be operated, many of the data centers being built in the next 5 will not. Understanding where the data center industry will be in 5 years is key to understanding how we should maintain and improve our grid. Right now we are on a path to rolling blackouts, and that will increase emissions too, and generally make life worse for everyone.