8 ms·

One refrigerator sized rack at a datacenter takes as much power as 150 homes, and they’re using it for technology that disempowers and annoys people. It’s prett

One refrigerator sized rack at a datacenter takes as much power as 150 homes, and they’re using it for technology that disempowers and annoys people. It’s pretty obviously offensive. All for rezoning golf courses too

anthonypasq 3mo ago
> One refrigerator sized rack at a datacenter takes as much power as 150 homes Is this supposed to scare me or something? I can't even fathom the actual point you are trying to make if it doesn't involve me having an emotional response to this statement.
- spencerflem 3mo ago
  Seems pretty obvious- that datacenters very measurably contribute to rising costs of electricity and climate change , and unlike aluminum processing or farming which makes things people want, is used for AI which a lot of people resent. It’s a lose-lose
  - anthonypasq 3mo ago
    > datacenters very measurably contribute to rising costs of electricity and climate change the people who make this true are the same people who oppose the data centers. if they just let people build solar and data centers neither of those things would be true.
    - spencerflem 3mo ago
      Who’s saying not to build solar?
      - pesus 3mo ago
        Currently, it's the US government, who is very opposed to renewable energy sources and very in favor of data centers/AI.
      - ghaff 3mo ago
        There's plenty of opposition to solar farms at the local level.
  - catapart 3mo ago
    Wild to see people pretend like this isn't true while we're still in the middle of seeing how badly this shit has already fucked up hardware prices. in b4 the 'apples and oranges' cope
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
xp84 3mo ago
Nobody's shutting off those 150 homes to take their electricity, though. They have to buy it themselves. Lots of industrial things take tons of energy, from metal smelting to food production. Oh, and datacenters alone shouldn't even make electricity more expensive, because rates are regulated. The state regulators have to approve rate raises. Now, are the regulators a bunch of stooges captured by the utilities who always do their bidding? Probably! But that's a good reason to throw your corrupt state politicians out of office and hopefully run them out of town on a rail -- not to protest datacenters.
- multjoy 3mo ago
  Metal and food are useful, though.
  - cobbzilla 3mo ago
    the irony of making an implied point that data centers aren’t useful, by using data centers.
    - AngryData 3mo ago
      Pretty sure hackernews doesn't take a giant datacenter to run. Its a text-only website managed by nerds. If HN didn't care about redundancy they could probably host it out of somebody's basement.
      - cobbzilla 3mo ago
        And there are zero data centers in between facilitating anything?
        20after4 3mo ago
        The data centers that already exist are one thing, creating a lot of new ones isn't necessary simply to continue supporting hacker news traffic. These new data centers are entirely a speculative buildout of new capacity to support theoretical (and some existing) demand for AI compute.
parineum 3mo ago
> One refrigerator sized rack at a datacenter takes as much power as 150 homes Are you counting the externalized data center use of the people in that house?

anthonypasq 3mo ago

> One refrigerator sized rack at a datacenter takes as much power as 150 homes Is this supposed to scare me or something? I can't even fathom the actual point you are trying to make if it doesn't involve me having an emotional response to this statement.

spencerflem 3mo ago
Seems pretty obvious- that datacenters very measurably contribute to rising costs of electricity and climate change , and unlike aluminum processing or farming which makes things people want, is used for AI which a lot of people resent. It’s a lose-lose
- anthonypasq 3mo ago
  > datacenters very measurably contribute to rising costs of electricity and climate change the people who make this true are the same people who oppose the data centers. if they just let people build solar and data centers neither of those things would be true.
  - spencerflem 3mo ago
    Who’s saying not to build solar?
    - pesus 3mo ago
      Currently, it's the US government, who is very opposed to renewable energy sources and very in favor of data centers/AI.
    - ghaff 3mo ago
      There's plenty of opposition to solar farms at the local level.
- catapart 3mo ago
  Wild to see people pretend like this isn't true while we're still in the middle of seeing how badly this shit has already fucked up hardware prices. in b4 the 'apples and oranges' cope
deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]

xp84 3mo ago

Nobody's shutting off those 150 homes to take their electricity, though. They have to buy it themselves. Lots of industrial things take tons of energy, from metal smelting to food production. Oh, and datacenters alone shouldn't even make electricity more expensive, because rates are regulated. The state regulators have to approve rate raises. Now, are the regulators a bunch of stooges captured by the utilities who always do their bidding? Probably! But that's a good reason to throw your corrupt state politicians out of office and hopefully run them out of town on a rail -- not to protest datacenters.

multjoy 3mo ago
Metal and food are useful, though.
- cobbzilla 3mo ago
  the irony of making an implied point that data centers aren’t useful, by using data centers.
  - AngryData 3mo ago
    Pretty sure hackernews doesn't take a giant datacenter to run. Its a text-only website managed by nerds. If HN didn't care about redundancy they could probably host it out of somebody's basement.
    - cobbzilla 3mo ago
      And there are zero data centers in between facilitating anything?
      - 20after4 3mo ago
        The data centers that already exist are one thing, creating a lot of new ones isn't necessary simply to continue supporting hacker news traffic. These new data centers are entirely a speculative buildout of new capacity to support theoretical (and some existing) demand for AI compute.

parineum 3mo ago

> One refrigerator sized rack at a datacenter takes as much power as 150 homes Are you counting the externalized data center use of the people in that house?