Data centers threaten WA climate efforts by guzzling power
www.seattletimes.com
Some Washington utility officials might face a daunting choice: violate a state green energy law limiting fossil fuel use or risk rolling blackouts.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18231492

But with demand soaring and the power from dams finite, Grant County has been forced to look to other sources of energy. The problem is so acute that the county is headed for a daunting choice in the next six years: violate a state green energy law limiting the use of fossil fuels or risk rolling blackouts in homes, factories and hospitals.

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Artificial intelligence, which requires extraordinary computing power, is accelerating the need to build data centers across the world, and experts say the industry’s global energy consumption as of just two years ago could double by 2026. Data centers also are relied upon every day by businesses and people for internet searches, storing photos on the cloud and streaming videos.

  • Admiral PatrickOPEnglish
    7•2 months ago

    “Sorry we had to cut power to grandma’s oxygen machine, but someone on the internet needed to know what the Spice Girls would look like if they were all top hats that vaguely resembled Whoopi Goldberg.”