"Most Of The Data Centers Do Not Consume Water" - Ladies & Gentlemen, The Governor Of Utah!!

[hatrack]

EDIT

At the same time, Utah’s elected leaders have pushed for the state to be a hub for data centers, facilities that, for decades, have relied on large amounts of water to keep their servers cool, through a process known as evaporative cooling. Since 2021, Utah has added or announced plans for at least 15 new data center buildings or campuses, according to Data Center Map, and at least a few existing facilities expanded their footprints over that time.

Asked by The Salt Lake Tribune how he squared those traditionally water-intensive industries with his Great Salt Lake goals, Cox appeared steamed. “Most of the data centers do not consume water. This is a big misnomer out there,” he said in response.

Cox warned of rising electricity prices across the nation, a trend fueled, in part, by the rise of artificial intelligence and more data centers. The governor has embraced an initiative called “Operation Gigawatt” to more than double the state’s energy generation. At the unveiling of his Great Salt Lake initiative, he praised nuclear energy and its ability to power desalination plants, which could someday free up an “abundance” of water from the world’s oceans. Cox and other officials in the state have also warned of a new global “arms race” over who will ultimately control artificial intelligence technologies and the energy they need.

“If you tell people, ‘I’m sorry, you’re just not going to have any energy for the things that we need. We’re just going to have to give up and let China rule the world, because we can’t create energy because it uses some water,’” the governor continued, “that’s crazy talk.”

EDIT

https://grist.org/technology/utah-data-center-water-supply-meta-novva/

[mountain grammy]

1. Well if there's one thing he knows about it's "crazy talk"

[mwmisses4289]

2. Ok, I didn't really want to believe there could be anyone as dumb as t.

Guess I was wrong. Proof that religion rots the brain.

[SSJVegeta]

3. Still he is one of the most unifying of GOP figures

[quaint]

4. Ugh. You mean through his "Disagree Better" effort?

[SSJVegeta]

6. Almost at this point not openly being a nazi is kinda a clear separation from the pack

[SonOfNebanaube]

5. He is correct

The cooling systems are a closed circuit loop.

[hunter]

8. It's a misdirection to focus on the water use of the data centers themselves.

These data centers get most of their energy from fossil fuel power plants that use huge amounts of water for evaporative cooling.

It's possible to build air cooled fossil fuel power plants, and these are commercially available, but they are less efficient than water cooled plants and therefore emit more carbon dioxide for the electricity they produce than water cooled power plants. Air cooled high temperature nuclear power plants are not commercially available, although many possible designs for them have been proposed.

The idea that desalinated ocean water could be transported to Salt Lake City (elevation 1,300 meters) is economically is absurd. What's usually proposed is that desalinated water would be used nearer the ocean allowing upstream cities to take more fresh water from higher elevations at huge environmental cost. Imagine the Colorado River or Snake River running dry at their headwaters.

When authoritarian political and religious leaders talk about competing with China in regards to these data centers I believe they know what the actual prize is. When the AI bubble bursts these data centers will be turned into huge surveillance machines. Big Brother's thought police will be watching you.

[hatrack]

9. Exactly this - and thank you!