Posted on 11/24/2024 2:29:16 PM PST by DFG
The power needs of artificial intelligence and cloud computing are growing so large that individual data center campuses could soon use more electricity than some cities, and even entire U.S. states, according to companies developing the facilities.
The electricity consumption of data centers has exploded along with their increasingly critical role in the economy in the past 10 years, housing servers that power the applications businesses and consumers rely on for daily tasks.
Now, with the advent of artificial intelligence, data centers are growing so large that finding enough power to drive them and enough suitable land to house them will become increasingly difficult, the developers say. The facilities could increasingly demand a gigawatt or more of power — one billion watts — or about twice the residential electricity consumption of the Pittsburgh area last year.
Technology companies are in a “race of a lifetime to global dominance” in artificial intelligence, said Ali Fenn, president of Lancium, a company that secures land and power for data centers in Texas. “It’s frankly about national security and economic security,” she said. “They’re going to keep spending” because there’s no more profitable place to deploy capital.
Renewable energy alone won’t be sufficient to meet their power needs. Natural gas will have to play a role, developers say, which will slow progress toward meeting carbon dioxide emissions targets.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Actually they are.
One I read, has ordered Small Nuclear Power Plant.
Considering this is new technology I think it kind of riky.
But Bill’s OS ran Sim City! What could go wrong?
Seriously, though, how do you just extend the operation of a nuclear power plant? Where are the spent fuel rods stored?
Going to take an awful lot of windmills to keep the Surveillance-and-Disinformation State going.
Good point.They would rather we foot the bill for their next toy.
We’re gonna need bigger windmills.
How much of that power will go towards the generation of AI-generated Porn?
TMI will power roughly 1.2 million homes.
The nuclear power industry has been extending the life of plants for over 40 years.
They pay the Nuclear Regulatory Agency lots of money and do lots of inspection to verify that the plant can safely operate for another 20 years.
A few plant have had 2 twenty year extensions of their license.
The spent fuel is for the most part stored on the power plan’s site.
The Federal Government reneged on their requirement ot build a burial site for spent nuclear fuel.
Having worked at several, you are absolutely correct.
That’s why the power company owner will still be managing the plant.
Not anymore
It will power one server farm.
That's why I am so frustrated with the so called AI that is being hyped today.
When actual AI happens, we will never know it because it will be laughing us while it...
Nukes are licensed for 40 years. Then depending on lots of requirements, the plant license may be extended to 40 years.
Fuel rods after a period in the fuel pool are stored in a dry cask.
Kudos to you digging into power consumption.
I live in Licking County Ohio which is immediately east of Columbus. Let me tell ya, it seems the entire western edge of my county is getting paved over with warehousing. On top of that we have multiple Amazon facilities along with a huge Google facility.
Currently a mega-size Intel plant is under construction in this general area. If I told you the number of crane booms on this Intel site that are visible from the nearest road, you wouldn’t believe me. I think my co-worker counted 30 on the last drive-by. And these rigs aren’t Joe Pesci size. Two 1200-tonners were recently moved in to set roof roof trusses.
Recently announced is another data center moving in to this area along with a Microsoft entity only about six miles from me as the goose flies.
All the above tripe I’ve written about is to preface my main point: it’s indescribable the amount of power transmission infrastructure that’s built or currenty under construction for this stuff...two HUGE substations along with many smaller ones situated at point-of-use. Adding to those are two Goliath size power transmission lines coming up from SE Ohio. I can’t accurately describe the amount of power construction that has happened and is happening.
Interesting to me is a good deal of these assets were put in place several years ago. AEP is the big bronco in this. What did they know and WHEN did they know it?
My 5 kw/hrs worth
oh no
ai contributes to global warming
You can bet that the owner will still be exerting financial constraints on management.
It’s risky to the exetnet the developer may not be familiar with how long it will take to design and get licensed.
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