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The ocean tidal power data center idea was a neat one.
I don’t see how that generates anywhere near enough power, think about the potential energy of a bucket of water going up and down that amount over the course of a day.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ocean tidal power data center idea was a neat one.
I agree. It has to be more viable than sending GPUs to space.
My preferred outlandish idea would be to put the data centers next to solar farms in the Sahara. I just don't know yet how we are going to make the batteries to power that through the night
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Have you seen the price of electricity? That's with only about 5% of cars being electric. We've consumed nearly all of the slack in transmission capacity. I'm expecting transmission costs to balloon.
Is that from the popularity of evs, or from data centers?
Project Kilby is probably the most intelligent approach to this problem so far. https://www.chevron.com/newsroom/2026/q2/chevron-signs-20-ye... The idea is to bring the data centers, power generators and energy supply together in the ~same physical space so the only thing you have to transmit is data. Moving energy is way more expensive than moving information.
Of the items on this chart, I would say AI data centers are providing the least amount of value per % of GDP spent.
And 1930s public works the highest.
Remember when we didn't have enough electricity for electric cars?
Same issue with EV rollout. EVs are great if you have a single family home and a few grand to spend on outfitting a fast charger. Most apartment renters however are shit out of luck. I mean it has been how many years now of EV cars on the road and virtually no sweeping buildout of EV chargers in apartment complexes that I can see at least. There was a push for like maybe a half dozen token ev charging spots in new parking garage construction but that has been it for years in terms of that scale, a sort of nicety not something you can bank on having when you go to one of these garages. Street parking EV hookup has also not been rolling out at any serious scale. There is 1 single ev street parking spot in my neighborhood; they put it in years ago and nothing more has been built since.
I know someone with an EV in an apartment without a hookup for them, and charging it is a legitimate constant chore as they have to plan to go somewhere offsite to do it. Frequently they can't take the EV and have to resort to the gas car because the EV is at 20% charge or something.
I think what we are seeing with EVs is akin to general K shaped economy phenomenon. The rich and rich government leadership assume rollout must be going well, since they can charge conveniently at their house and they see many other Teslas in the parking lot of the country club or the luxury shopping center. Never mind actually considering how a renter's experience might be different, and renters are the bulk of our cities.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dIvV!,w_1456,c_limit... Of the items on this chart, I would say AI data centers are providing the least amount of value per % of GDP spent. And 1930s public works the highest.
But also, AI data centers have been around for like 3 years. It’s not surprising they haven’t reached a high level of efficiency yet.
IMO they are not an argument against excessive power use (I know this is not your argument, just a common one), but rather and argument FOR better (read: nuclear) power generation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you seen the price of electricity? That's with only about 5% of cars being electric. We've consumed nearly all of the slack in transmission capacity. I'm expecting transmission costs to balloon.
Is that from the popularity of evs, or from data centers?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you seen the price of electricity? That's with only about 5% of cars being electric. We've consumed nearly all of the slack in transmission capacity. I'm expecting transmission costs to balloon.
Is that from the popularity of evs, or from data centers?
Edit: also, the problem with charging vehicles isn’t really home owner cars, it’s tractor-trailers.
