6 ms·
> Economies of scale -> more energy = bigger electric plants = cheaper energy. Problem is; power plants are not something that can be spun up with a kubectl in
by usrbinbash 2mo ago
> Economies of scale -> more energy = bigger electric plants = cheaper energy.
Problem is; power plants are not something that can be spun up with a kubectl invocation.
Power plants need to be built. This process takes YEARS, and in some cases over a decade. And that's just the plants themselves. The grid also has to be built out to be able to handle the new load.
And while this potentially +10year process is ongoing, the current supply is gobbled up, and prices for consumers skyrocket.
Yes, eventuelly, market forces may solve the issue. By then however, it will already be too late for many areas, with residents being priced out of a basic utility.
Or worse, the markets may not solve the issue at all.
Because; all this building out of electrical gear and power plants, requires very specific resources and talent. Whta if the markets decide that these resources are much better allocated (at least from the PoV of company shareholders), in building power generation capacity exclusively for datacenters, and the consumer market is simply ignored?
- rcxdude 2mo agoThe largest build-out, which is in renewables, features plants that can go up very quickly, at least. The grid upgrades are the bigger bottleneck.
- ethbr1 2mo ago> largest build-out, which is in renewables Yes and... it's still a projected ~50/50 split of future datacenter energy growth being met by renewables or coal (China) + natural gas (US). https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-supply-for-ai https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-supply-for-...