Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 71 posts

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#31

Post by karahime »

lostmsu wrote: post #30
loudmax wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agriculture uses orders of magnitudes more water than data centers. A 50% cut in water use by data centers will have nowhere near the impact of a 5% cut in water use by agriculture. But data centers can generate orders of magnitude more revenue. Say rain water is leaking into your house from two holes in the roof: one is 1 meter in diameter, the other is 1cm. Any effort you spend plugging the 1cm hole is a distractio…

> data centers can generate orders of magnitude more revenue You can't eat data.

Yes, just like you can't eat trucks, roads, grocery stores, tractors, combines, crop dusters, grain silos, mills, or the FDA. Any system needs many components, most of which aren't directly consumed by someone.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#32

Post by bluefirebrand »

bradleyjg wrote: post #6
adjejmxbdjdn wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The $34 million gives the idea that the water is worth $34 million, but the water costs of growing Alfalfa (largely to be used in the extremely inefficient animal agriculture industry), are a small fraction of the overall costs. Labor and 23,000 acres of land and seeds and fertilizers etc would be a significantly greater cost contributing to the $34 million value.

My point was that google generates hundreds of billions of dollars from the same water that $34 million in alfalfa. It’s absurd to complain about their usage. Water use policy is about agriculture, agriculture, and also agricultural. Everything else is a distraction.

> My point was that google generates hundreds of billions of dollars from the same water that $34 million in alfalfa

Food is more important than whatever google does. :/

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#33

Post by bluefirebrand »

pizlonator wrote: post #28

How much water AI data centers use feels like the least interesting reason to dislike them. If I wanted to dislike them for environmental reasons, then I’d focus entirely on the energy consumption and CO2 emission from the generators directly hooked up to the data centers since the grid can’t provide them with enough juice. If I wanted to dislike them for economic reasons, I’d focus entirely on the weird circular dea…

I don't think anyone who is seriously opposing data centers is making water their only or primary argument

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#34

Post by lostmsu »

karahime wrote: post #31
lostmsu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> data centers can generate orders of magnitude more revenue You can't eat data.

Yes, just like you can't eat trucks, roads, grocery stores, tractors, combines, crop dusters, grain silos, mills, or the FDA. Any system needs many components, most of which aren't directly consumed by someone.

Missing the point. There's absolute bare minimum food that you need to eat regardless of everything else.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#35

Post by oersted »

quickthrowman wrote: post #24
bayindirh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you're using water in a open-loop data center, you get in cool/cold water, add biocides and other chemicals to protect your infrastructure, then heat it and pump it back to the body of water (i.e. river, lake or an underground hole, or somewhere). The result is unusable, somewhat toxic (since you can't remove the chemicals), deoxygenated (hot water can dissolve less oxygen) liquid which can't be used for anythin…

> When you're using water in a open-loop data center, you get in cool/cold water, add biocides and other chemicals to protect your infrastructure, then heat it and pump it back to the body of water (i.e. river, lake or an underground hole, or somewhere). These are not power plants, there are zero data centers using open loop cooling that discharge loop water back into a waterway. It’s unnecessary when you’re cooling…

Well the point of the article is that water usage is much worse in the power plant capacity necessary to feed datacenters.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#36

Post by bradleyjg »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #32
bradleyjg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was that google generates hundreds of billions of dollars from the same water that $34 million in alfalfa. It’s absurd to complain about their usage. Water use policy is about agriculture, agriculture, and also agricultural. Everything else is a distraction.

> My point was that google generates hundreds of billions of dollars from the same water that $34 million in alfalfa Food is more important than whatever google does. :/

Radical Luddite posting on the internet is … something.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#37

Post by defrost »

bradleyjg wrote: post #36
bluefirebrand wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My point was that google generates hundreds of billions of dollars from the same water that $34 million in alfalfa Food is more important than whatever google does. :/

Radical Luddite posting on the internet is … something.

It wasn't the Looms / technology they hated - it was being put out of work and discarded.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#38

Post by bradleyjg »

lostmsu wrote: post #34
karahime wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, just like you can't eat trucks, roads, grocery stores, tractors, combines, crop dusters, grain silos, mills, or the FDA. Any system needs many components, most of which aren't directly consumed by someone.

Missing the point. There's absolute bare minimum food that you need to eat regardless of everything else.

Alfalfa isn’t food.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#39

Post by FloorEgg »

lostmsu wrote: post #34
karahime wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, just like you can't eat trucks, roads, grocery stores, tractors, combines, crop dusters, grain silos, mills, or the FDA. Any system needs many components, most of which aren't directly consumed by someone.

Missing the point. There's absolute bare minimum food that you need to eat regardless of everything else.

You are the one who is missing the point.

Re: AI Data Centers Use More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report

#40

Post by miyoji »

natas wrote: post #16

I feel like we've already had this discussion with respect to Crypto; crypto used more energy than banks (which proved to be false, but whatever); and water. Now AI uses magnitude more energy than crypto (or humans) and somehow they're now saying it's okay?

> crypto used more energy than banks (which proved to be false, but whatever)

The true accusation was that crypto used more energy than banks per transaction. Your framing is very dishonest.

Post reply on HN