The Stratos artificial intelligence datacenter footprint will cover more than 40,000 acres (62 sq miles) over three sites in Box Elder county in north-western Utah. The facility will require about 9GW of power, which is more than the entire state of Utah currently consumes, and suck up a significant amount of water in an area that has been hit by severe drought in recent years.
Why are they building these things in dry hot places, surely the one time real estate cost can’t dwarf all the other issues?
That’s long-term thinking. I assume it’s like a ponzi scheme: everyone who puts money into something like this thinks they’ll cash out before the problems occur.
Why do I feel like the ones left holding the bag are going to be the taxpayers/residents somehow?
E Pluribus UnumPrivatize the gains, Socialize the losses.
Mmmm home sweet home
If I were justifying my account name, I’d suppose, for the purpose of future appearing interesting, this might be a coverup.
Such a structure is useful for many things, and while a DC doesn’t have to be that big, a factory producing real things on scale or mass housing or a prepared company town all benefit from being in one place.
So perhaps it’s being built as a DC, but in fact is going to be like a drone factory, or something equally dystopian-futuristic.
Or a humongous supercomputer, whatever.
I’m starting to think along plot lines of science fiction and space operas I’ve seen and read before, they were saying it’s harmful for my development, I didn’t believe them.
Another option - it’s, yes, a scheme and it won’t get built. Just pump and dump.
Because our tax dollars have been bankrolling this whole thing for a while now.
It’s located on the Ruby Pipeline which will serve as the primary source of energy in the short term. Additionally, the data center being classified as a national security site, is located near the Utah Test and Training Range.
Longer term the facility is looking at nuclear facilities for power and the possibility for a runway and aviation facilities.
The primary customer of this facility will be the United States military.
This. US military is the target market. That people live there, that humans need water to live, and that powering this is going to entirely erase the local agriculture and wider ecosystems are all irrelevant. Deus Vult.~
This is also why Utah. They will staff it with mormons and have fiber runs already
they build it in red states because of the lack protest/resistance against it, at least from the gop.
Nobody is thinking this shit through long-term or short.
evaporative cooling is better in a arid dry environment. of course this has the side effect of using ALOT more water than neccesarry. utah is already drier than salt.
Corrosion and mould are more of a problem than cooling.
less likely in a dry environent, or the desert. fungi doesnt cant survive in extreme heat.