We have to be worried when reports out of Utah speak of their ‘hyperscale’ Stratos data center that could create a massive heat island that would devastate the area’s ecology, according to Robert Davies, a physics professor from Utah State. It would need 9 gigawatts of energy from fossil gas pipelines at full build — more than double the amount of electricity currently used by the entire state of Utah.
Consider that Big Tech is destroying U.S. farmland to build $700 billion data centers that could become outdated tech albatrosses within three years. We know how our computers become obsolete within a few years, planned by the capitalist race to keep us spending and throwing away. Trump signed an executive order streamlining permitting for any project over $500 million, which lets developers bypass local opposition in exchange for the extreme dreams of these multinational behemoths.
Saline Township in Michigan voted no to a $16 billion Open AI-Oracle data center. The developer, Related Digital, founded by billionaire Stephen Ross, has a Vice President married to Michigan’s Secretary of State, who is now running for governor. The township couldn’t afford to fight when these monsters sued, so they settled. Construction started immediately.
The buildings are permanent, the destruction is permanent, but the chips are disposable.
A data center in Fayetteville, Georgia, drained 30 million gallons of water through hook-ups unknown to the local utility. Local residents figured it out when their water pressure disappeared. A Project Blue data center in Tucson, Arizona, was caught trucking municipal water out of the city that had voted against the project. The problem is government and utility regulatory frameworks are not prepared to deal with the sheer industrial immensity of these hyperscale projects.
On this show we share a panel discussion put together by Pasadena California Climate Commons with leaders working at the intersection of technology, energy, and sustainability. Here they explore how the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping demand for water and power across modern data centers and what is being done to address it.
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This is a little different and maybe techno-optimist than our last recent show on Artificial Intelligence Data Centers.
Water and Power Woes: How Artificial Intelligence Data Centers Threaten Our Future
There’s an article on the wonders and concerns about Artificial Intelligence going around on the internet by Matt Shumer called “Something Big is Happening.” It sounds the alarm that AI is getting way better at scraping through the world’s data, yours, mine, everyones, and it will soon make superfluous the jobs of many writers, lawyers, even AI coders.…
Yet it is helpful to listen to industry people share their version of both sides of the equation:
The environmental footprint of modern computing and data infrastructure
How AI and advanced computing can also support climate research and clean energy innovation
Practical steps developers, companies, and policymakers can take to ensure technology supports a more sustainable future
There is much more to be said than these folks we are sharing on this show. We face an urgent situation with AI and the imperative movements towards moratoria and all-out rejection of many of these data centers. The problem we face is yes, Big Tech can do better, and we hear that in this show. Yet they really aren’t forced through strong regulations to do better.
Generating their own energy isn’t really enough when we are talking 9 gigawatts of power necessary. Diesel and natural gas generators are the go-to source before solar panels on so many of these projects. Closed loop water systems still require significant water.
Noise abatement techniques employed by regulators have no idea how to mitigate the 24-hour low-frequency hum reported from neighbors of these projects, measured as infrasound, sound below the human hearing. This causes dizziness, nausea, vertigo, and sleep disruption. The noise comes from cooling systems and on-site gas turbines used to “generate their own power.”
Utah’s Box Elder County project is the largest in the world, 62 square miles. There is really no mitigating a project like that. The sheer size of many more of these projects is bordering insane. Strong regulations, not the ones written by corporate captured agencies, seem to never be enough when the convergence of political and financial power is at stake. So, listen with an open mind, because there is great need for everyone to make their voices heard in these struggles.
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Resources/Articles:
Water and Power Woes with AI Data Centers - EcoJustice Radio: https://jackeidt.substack.com/p/water-and-power-woes-how-artificial
Miranda Kerrigan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirandagardiner/?utm_source=luma] is Executive Director at the iMasons Climate Accord, brings a global view on the rapid scale of data center expansion and the role of hyperscalers in driving renewable energy investment. She will also speak to collective industry action, infrastructure challenges, and how communities can engage as partners in this growth.
Adrian Hightower [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianhightower/?utm_source=luma] is a sustainability professional at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, with expertise in water systems and regional resource management. He speaks to water demand challenges and infrastructure constraints, including impacts from data centers.
Alec Miller [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alecmiller1/?utm_source=luma] leads a software team that has developed a Sustainability calculator for data centers, and is part of an infrastructure fund that owns a data center developer.
Greg Eisenberg [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryeisenberg/?utm_source=luma] is an experienced software engineering leader working in solar energy, bringing insights into the intersection of technology and renewable power systems.
Anders Dunker [https://www.andersdunker.com/about.html] is a Norwegian writer, journalist, philosopher, and painter. His latest book of interviews about nature is called “Unknown Territory.” He moderates the panel. We featured a 2024 panel he presided over regarding proposals to mine the deep seabed for rare earth minerals [https://wilderutopia.com/ecojustice-radio/deep-sea-mining-and-the-green-transition-will-marine-ecosystems-survive/].
Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate advocate, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes for a PBS SoCal Artbound project called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs. He also publishes articles and podcasts on Substack [
].
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Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt
Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats
Episode 285
