Posted on 09/20/2024 8:42:00 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Ah, THE FUTURE!
It is weirdly starting to look like the past, no?
While the Green grifters are busy making sure people's lives get less comfortable and more expensive every day, as the things that once made a "standard of living" worth attaining are stripped away piece by piece...
...some of the wealthiest in the EAT THE BUGS crowd have the wherewithal to take a different approach by virtue of their place in the economic food chain - at the pinnacle.
Not relegated to gluing themselves to the floors of Porsche showrooms or flinging tomato soup at old masterpieces, these are the big thinkers, the entrepreneurs, the exceptional who provide the funds to keep the agitating storm troops noisy and occupied while they go about the real business of enforcing the change they want imposed on the world's population.
Sometimes, they meet resistance, like, say, with substituting bugs for burgers.
Not happening.
In other cases, they get pretty far along implementing their agenda until suddenly they meet a stubborn wall of angry citizens. A majority feel abused and betrayed by what were obviously ill-thought-out schemes to serve a questionable premise. Take EV and heat pump mandates and "renewable energy sources" for "cheap" electricity generation. None of these proved true and made a once comfortable life difficult and generally miserable.
Sometimes, though, their New World Order/WEF plans just happen to conflict with the fervor of their ardent, spittle-flecked supporters and reconcile with the real-life needs of the knuckle-dragging classes.
This is one of those amazing moments.
Bill "Eat the Bugs/Solar Geoengineering" Gates - Microsft founder, gazillionaire, and obsessive climate cultist in every aspect of control, from the atmosphere to what people are allowed to ingest - sees artificial intelligence (AI) as the next big thing. He has his Microsoft dudes heavily into planning AI data centers to develop and promote the technology in all its forms and uses.
The thing about AI is that it requires tremendous amounts of energy to run the equipment in just one data center, less mind the multitudes he and other creatives like Elon Musk envision.
With states slavishly embracing the Green fantasy of relying on renewables with natural gas, coal, and nuclear being prematurely phased out sans replacement generation coming online, leading to aging grids now browning out in what used to be routine circumstances, where is that additional power to come from?
In Elon's case, a controversial ad hoc arrangement for his xAI data center outside of Memphis - natural gas generators until someone can cough up enough juice. The local utility is no way able to come even close at the moment.
As you can imagine, so, yeah, Memphis wants the jobs, but heads are 'sploding over the power issue and the "dirty" turbines he's making up the shortage with.
...For instance, there’s a major divide between how much electricity xAI wants to use, and how much MLGW can provide. In August, the utility company said that xAI would have access to 50 megawatts of power. But xAI wants to use triple that amount—which, for comparison, is enough energy to power 80,000 households.
MLGW said in a statement to TIME that xAI is paying for the technical upgrades that enable them to double their power usage—and that in order for the company to reach the full 150 megawatts, there will need to be $1.7 million in improvements to a transmission line. “There will be no impact to the reliability of availability of power to other customers from this electric load,” the company wrote. They also added that xAI would be required to reduce its electricity consumption during times of peak demand, and that any infrastructure improvement costs would not be borne by taxpayers.
In response to complaints about the lack of communication with council members, MLGW wrote: “xAI's request does not require approvals from the MLGW Board of Commissioners or City Council.”
But community members worry whether Memphis’s utilities can handle such a large consumer of energy. In the past, the city’s power grid has been forced into rolling blackouts by ice storms and other severe weather events.
And Garcia, at the SELC, says that while xAI waits for more power to become available, they’ve turned to non-legal measures to sate their demand, by installing gas combustion turbines on the site that they are operating without a permit. Garcia says the SELC has observed the installation of 18 such turbines, which have the capacity to emit 130 tons of harmful nitrogen oxides per year. The SELC and community groups sent a letter to the Shelby County Health Department demanding their removal—but the health department responded by claiming the turbines were out of their authority, and referred them to the EPA. The EPA told NPR that it was “looking into the matter.” A representative for xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gates, on the other hand, had already been moving in a different direction - nuclear. In 2008, he helped found a nuclear energy company called TerraPower, and this past June, they broke ground in Kemmerer, Wyoming, on the company's first power plant.
...The demonstration plant will be home to TerraPower’s Natrium nuclear reactor, which is cooled with liquid sodium as opposed to water and features a molten salt-based energy storage system, all of which makes for a safer, cheaper and more efficient energy machine that can be built for around half the cost of a water-cooled reactor.
The reactor produces 345 megawatts and can have its output boosted to 500 megawatts for more than five-and-a-half hours if need be, which is the equivalent of the energy needed to power around 400,000 homes.TerraPower has secured up to $2 billion in pledges from the U.S. government to complete work on the plant and nearly $1 billion in private funding, in addition to reaching a deal with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation to explore the exportation of TerraPower’s Natrium reactors to the United Arab Emirates.
But if it all goes according to plan the WY reactor doesn't come online until 2030, and Gates has other AI centers in construction who will need power long before that.
What's the answer?
Use nearby available power generation resources that are sitting idle...and who cares why they shut down in the first place? Gates needs them now.
FIRE UP THOSE BIG, BEAUTIFUL TOWERS
Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island nuclear plant, sell the power to Microsoft for AI
Constellation Energy plans to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and will sell the power to Microsoft, demonstrating the immense energy needs of the tech sector as they build out data centers to support artificial intelligence.
Constellation expects the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island near Middletown, Pennsylvania, to come back online in 2028, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the company announced Friday. Constellation also plans to apply to extend the plant’s operations to at least 2054.
Constellation stock jumped about 15% in trading. Shares have more than doubled year to date.
Microsoft will purchase electricity from the plant in a 20-year agreement to match the energy its data centers consume with carbon-free power. Constellation described the agreement with Microsoft as the largest power purchase agreement that the nuclear plant operator has ever signed.
“The decision here is the most powerful symbol of the rebirth of nuclear power as a clean and reliable energy resource,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez told investors on a call Friday morning.
Oh, I bet the neighbors go ape-Schlitz when they hear this.
And just so we're clear - reopening TMI won't benefit anyone BUT the Microsoft data centers. They are buying every last MW that burps out of that place at a rumored $100+KW
BREAKING: @CEGCleanEnergy announces plans to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1.
The company signed a 20-year power purchase agreement to provide carbon-free electricity for @Microsoft data centers.
Learn more: https://t.co/yixGZ9SDlf pic.twitter.com/TAQl4N45Qd— Office of Nuclear Energy (@GovNuclear) September 20, 2024
That's the power of mega-money, my friends.
As much as I despise Gates and everything his Davos crowd stands for, the one silver lining in this is the nascent resurgence of nuclear. This sort of thing is on a scale that we of the knuckle-dragging classes can't truly affect on our own. It takes a deal of this magnitude to kick the nuclear movement in the ass, get it going, and keep it rolling over the obstacles yet to come at it.
Easily one of the most indicative moments as the U.S. grapples with surging electric power demand: the restart of Three Mile Island.
Get ready for all the dubious claims about the incident to resurface... https://t.co/rIjz1pd67w— Steve Everley (@saeverley) September 20, 2024
Even with Gates involved, all I can say is let it glow.
Maybe they'll eventually shine some of that rarified light on the rest of us.
Some reports say the Microsoft AI data center could eventually suck up all 850 megawatts.
Make sure to thank a libtard.
The 20 percent or so of the population that believe in what they are told to fear and protested nuclear power are the same people that destroyed our present world.
Funny how quiet the left is.
been to TMI twice...both times, Unit 1 was running at full power. Parking lot was actually vibrating under my feet. Power of all Power.
Didn’t realize how much power that AI required & I have to wonder if it is even worth it. What’s AI going to do for the average citizen?
(Barf Alert)
V
V
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Jane Fonda will be all excited to be making:
“The China Syndrome II: Microsoft’s Hot Water from Hell”
She finds a Glow Bull downriver, dead,
in hot water discharged from the reactor.
Someone shot the Glow Bull with an antique Chinese
anti-aircraft gun. And it WAS loaded after all!
She wonders watts up. Very sus.
But is is HER they suspect.
The police chase on her Hoveround,
paid for by Obamacare,
is a highlight scene of the movie.
She ekskapes finally through the spatiotemporal vortex in
the 4.828032 Kilometer Island nuc-you-lar reactor core
to the land of Barbarella, to get her hairs cut,
never to return to earth again.
What’s it gonna do for the average citizen? Track their every bit of data. That’s all.
Damn
The A/C units use massive A/C systems which cool water, which is pumped to air handling units, which distribute the air supply.
To give you some idea a 300 Ton capacity chiller would require about 2000 amps at 460 volts on start up draw then taper off within seconds to say 300 amps operational load. The actual heat load of a server farm I have no idea but I do know that companies like BIT COIN require so much A/C capacity that the noise alone generated by the cooling towers outside make them an unwanted neighbor for about a mile.
Over time electronics have changed. My ship an aircraft carrier had 3-150 Ton units, 6-200 ton units, and 1-350 ton unit. This was in 1980 That meant 2000 tons cooling capacity with a total power load of roughly way 0ver 2000 amps total combined power load at 460 volts. Today's carrier like the FORD have 20,000 capacity.
Taking this further hospitals also for obvious reasons have a very high load demand for cooling. This is for the diagnostics such as MRI, CT, etc. Commercial A/C for large buildings is one of the power grids biggest consumers. Thus the Solar, Wind, renewables, are of absolutely no benefit.
And AI is going to do what...? Figure PI to the hundred quintillionth place? Anything useful?
Or is it going toward the worldwide spying ops I’ve read about?
Or the effort to quantify and put a price tag on every item, live or inantimate, in the world so it can be bought up by our betters?
With Gates involved, he will no doubt use AI to more efficiently exterminate billions.
Since most of the energy is needed for cooling it makes the most sense to build your data center in a cold place. Like Alaska or even Antarctic. You merely pump cold ocean water into the heat exchangers. All that warm water created would be a draw for all sorts of life.
I did a proposal for some work out near the Tri-Cities in Washington. They wanted me to look at six sites where they were going to put in giant buildings (something like 500’ x 200’) just to house computers. One small area with some office space and a couple of bathrooms, but it would all be operated remotely.
I figured they were looking at the six sites and then would choose the best one after my site assessments were done. Nope - they were building six new facilities.
I just looked at one of the sites on Google Earth. I was wrong on the size of the buildings.
1,080 feet long and 200 feet wide.
And five buildings like that at just the one site.
That’s a lot of laptops stacked on top of each other!
A lot of planning in progress here for the economic development zones of Hanford.
“All that warm water created would be a draw for all sorts of life.”
Good luck getting an environmental permit for that. IIRC, at some facilities where they draw in contaminated river water they not only have to cool the water down before it is released back into the river (which makes sense for rivers) they also have to remove the contaminants from the water they used before they return it to the river!
Perhaps a pipe going deep into the ocean which would pull out cold water then return it warm to the surface far from the shore. With the money Gates has bribes to get the permits would be easy .
My guess for now:
Large computing tasks will be sent to space for processing.
IOW, the data centers will be in orbit around the earth.
Bfl
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