Posted on 06/16/2026 5:20:58 PM PDT by Libloather
Data centers have become the chic new enemy among activists.
Critics claim the centers are using inordinate amounts of electricity and water to power artificial intelligence, inspiring protesters to take to the streets and Democratic lawmakers to head to Albany to stymie their development.
However, some experts say the anti-data center push is more of a moral panic than an empirical one, often based on speculative and sometimes bunk projections.
It seems that data centers are the boogeyman onto which larger fears about the impact of AI are being projected.
“The estimates of future data-center development may be overestimated by a factor of three to five,” Jonathan Koomey, an energy researcher who has been studying data-center electricity usage for decades, told The Post. “It is not as simple as saying, ‘We don’t want data centers to use water.’ You have to think about the trade-offs.”
Concerns about data centers have largely centered around the idea that they are massive guzzlers of energy and water, which (alongside aircon) is used to cool banks of servers and electical equipment.
Worries about water consumption have been popularized via an oft-repeated statistic about the water consumption of a Chilean data center from journalist Karen Hao’s book, “Empire of AI.” The only problem: Hao had accidentally exaggerated the water usage by a factor of 1,000.
According to the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, just 0.2% of New York state’s water and 3.5% of the state’s electricity were used by data centers in 2025.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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but why all of a sudden do they need SO MANY DATA CENTERS
There always needs to be a boogieman.
because the demands of the few outweigh the desires of the many.
And why are they targeting small rural areas with fewer environmental and zoning restrictions?
It is probably because the potential is so gargantuan and the technology exists now.
Well, per the fridges, it’s not like everyone went from not having to having one at the same time. If they have their own on site generation there isn’t much of a prob other than permitting. The only real difficulty would be if you want to hook up that generation to the grid or have the grid as a backup.
What does this have to do with golfers?
Oh I get it. Most golfers are rich democrats. Provable?
Rural areas require less security than a downtown operation.
Oh, btw, whose farms are getting bought?
There aren’t any golf courses that use that much water, not even in Vegas...or Phoenix.
“Use” water? Like it disappears….gone, destroyed….. when ‘used”?
Ive been hearing this nonsense for four to five decades.
“Fix the faucet drip, you’re waiting water’ tell me where it went? Outer space? How about right back into the ground where it came from.
Sheesh!
A little indirection there.
There always needs to be a boogieman.
——————————————————————
So you think it’s all overblown? I’d love to hear how the public is just making “data” centers a boogeyman.
““Use” water? Like it disappears….gone, destroyed….. when ‘used”?”
It’s evaporated so it can rain in Africa.
But your aquifer won’t see it again for a thousand years. Nor your local watershed.
Oh, btw, whose farms are getting bought?...
Family farms are being bought out. They didnt have much choice after being pushed out by the industrial farms. Sell at profit or lose everything.
Yeah that’s why they have to restart old nuclear power plants to power them. I am way past being gullible enough to believe the lies.
Read this the other day: https://www.gadgetreview.com/china-used-chatgpt-to-stoke-us-data-center-backlash-but-nobody-listened
China’s anti-center shenanigans didn’t work (folks started fighting against them anyway), but it does make me wonder if data centers might be more valuable than we think. After all, if our enemy doesn’t want us to have them, maybe we should go to Wal-Mart and buy a few. ;)
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