Big Tech goes nuclear (and fossil fuels)

[brenthutch 444]

6 minutes ago, billvon said:

30% is - which is what California is at now.  And as California goes, the country goes, like it or not.  That's why all gas cars have catalytic converters now, for example.

More than half our power generation comes from non fossil fuel sources.  Fossil fuels have already lost in California.  And again, as California goes, so does the country.

Sorry!

Sorry indeed, when you import roughly 30% of your electricity from other states (mostly from fossil fuels) you are as bit as green as Germany which does the same.

[brenthutch 444]

Can you please give me just one example of an AI data center being run exclusively on renewables?  No? Didn’t think you could.

How many are run by fossil fuels? Oh yeah, all of them.

Edited December 19, 2024 by brenthutch

[billvon 3,031]

2 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

Can you please give me just one example of an AI data center being run exclusively on renewables?  No? Didn’t think you could.

Sure.  The Oracle Cloud’s data centers in Europe currently run on 100% renewables.

Now - can you give me just one example of a data center that runs on 100% coal?

[brenthutch 444]

3 minutes ago, billvon said:

Sure.  The Oracle Cloud’s data centers in Europe currently run on 100% renewables.

Now - can you give me just one example of a data center that runs on 100% coal?

Ellison made one of Oracle’s biggest headlines of the week with his Monday earnings call announcement the company would invest in three small nuclear reactors to power a data center with over 1 GW of AI capacity. 
As I said, big tech is eschewing renewables in favor of fossil fuels and nuclear.

Edited December 19, 2024 by brenthutch

[brenthutch 444]

11 minutes ago, billvon said:

Sure.  The Oracle Cloud’s data centers in Europe currently run on 100% renewables.

Now - can you give me just one example of a data center that runs on 100% fossil fuel?

Yes, most of them.

[billvon 3,031]

17 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

Yes, most of them.

OK then.  Post one.  Just one.

[brenthutch 444]

3 minutes ago, billvon said:

OK then.  Post one.  Just one.

Googled…

“Data centers primarily rely on fossil fuels, like natural gas and coal, as their power source, which contributes significantly to their environmental impact due to the high energy consumption required to operate them”

[billvon 3,031]

14 minutes ago, brenthutch said:

Googled…

“Data centers primarily rely on fossil fuels

OK.  So you couldn't find one that runs on 100% fossil fuels.  You could have just said that.

[brenthutch 444]

Several technology groups are looking at nuclear power, including the use of small modular reactors (SMRs), to meet their electricity needs. Energy analysts have said natural gas, whether burned in large-scale facilities or peaker plants, also will be important.

 

 

Power consumption from data centers, though, also is benefiting coal-fired power plants, some of which may be kept running longer than expected in order to meet the increased demand for electricity from companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and others. Some coal-fired plants already have gotten a reprieve in areas where more energy is needed as data centers come online, or are in the planning stages.
 

not one mention of renewables. 

[billvon 3,031]

1 hour ago, brenthutch said:

Several technology groups are looking at nuclear power, including the use of small modular reactors (SMRs), to meet their electricity needs.

Great.  Maybe one of these days they will get it right and that will be an actual option.

Until then, people are going with cheap renewables.

[brenthutch 444]

21 hours ago, billvon said:

Great.  Maybe one of these days they will get it right and that will be an actual option.

Until then, people are going with cheap renewables.

And that is why Big Tech is going fossil fuels and nuclear. Any nod to renewables is nothing more than greenwashing. And you know it.