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Comment by everdrive | Hacker News Reader

>Do the math on what percentage of any given region's available water is consumed by data centers. Compare this to e.g. agriculture. This one isn't even a plausible concern, it's manufactured outrage.

Is it more than zero? I need to eat (although I do wish we all paid more for cleaner and more ethical food) but I explicitly don't want data centers.

I think this compares to pesticide to control malaria vs. herbicide to to prevent me from noticing two kinds of grass. Both put poison in the environment, but spraying for malaria has a clear benefit to outweigh its costs. But spraying herbicides so my lawn "looks nice" is really only a downside. What are the benefits to more data centers?

>Unless NIMBYs or captured regulators

If we're just doing ad-hominen we need a name for your group. Do you have any suggestions?

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> Is it more than zero?

This is like complaining that Fox News offices use water in their restrooms because you don't like their reporting. It's transparently not about that.

> I need to eat

Do you need to eat alfalfa grown in California rather than the midwest?

> What are the benefits to more data centers?

Large loads that can be curtailed during supply shortfalls via region shifting or operation of backup generators allow the grid to use a higher percentage of renewable generation without having intermittency issues.

> If we're just doing ad-hominen we need a name for your group.

NIMBY and regulatory capture are both descriptions of behavior rather than group identities.

>This is like complaining that Fox News offices use water in their restrooms because you don't like their reporting. It's transparently not about that.

If Fox news were trying to put a huge bathroom next to my property I certainly would care, though.

> Do you need to eat alfalfa grown in California rather than the midwest?

The only alfalfa I have right now is made of little pellets that I give to my chickens.

> Large loads that can be curtailed during supply shortfalls via region shifting or operation of backup generators allow the grid to use a higher percentage of renewable generation without having intermittency issues.

I don't see how this is a benefit to building more data centers. This sounds like an explanation of how you might mitigate their impact.

> NIMBY

I'm not interested in this term until you'll happily accept a carpet factory next to you that poisons your water for years. There is TONS of stuff that no sane person would want in their back yards.

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