Tag
Kevin O'Leary's massive Utah data center project was cut 50% after intense local backlash over water usage and environmental concerns; O'Leary acknowledges mistakes and promises transparency.
Kevin O'Leary agreed to reduce his planned 40,000-acre Project Stratos data center in Utah by roughly half, following pressure from residents, activists, and state officials. The downsized project will still cover approximately 20,000 acres, larger than Manhattan.
Tech giants including Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and Google are adopting different strategies to address data center water consumption, with some moving away from evaporative cooling entirely while Google takes a more nuanced, site-specific approach backed by hydrological assessments and water replenishment pledges.
An academic study presented at the Americas Conference on Information Systems maps five systemic tensions from AI's data-centre boom, including energy paradox, water strain, hyperscaler dominance, sovereignty erosion and urban displacement, highlighting the growing environmental and social costs.
Data center operators are grappling with water scarcity issues, with tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI pledging to reduce water consumption through alternative cooling methods and water replenishment initiatives.
This article questions why data centers use fresh water and suggests that coolant water could be recycled and cooled underground, similar to automotive systems, to reduce water consumption.
This article compares the electricity, water, and noise consumption of AI data centers to other American industries and everyday activities, using data from various sources to contextualize the resource use of data centers.
A tweet criticizes People magazine for republishing a debunked story about a data center consuming vast amounts of water, causing low water pressure for Georgia residents.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law imposing restrictions on large data centers to protect residents from rising water and energy costs.