I had incredibly dark dreams and did not sleep well, so many people I know have cancer, a fucking AI data center just got approved right near me, and one of the baby goat litters is not doing well.

[tom_ofb@23.social]

@sundogplanets I hear you, I hear you

[dgrammlich@sueden.social]

@sundogplanets Sending you good thoughts and energy.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

A couple of these things I can do nothing about. Some I can.

One I need help with from you: in a few days I'm giving a talk on the environmental consequences of AI data centres (with a focus on orbit, but starting with ground-based).

So, fediverse! Please send me your favourite statistic (with citation please) on exactly how bad AI data centres are for the environment. I'm looking for: comparisons on CO2 emissions per centre, water usage per slop-video made, stuff like that.

[mason@partychickens.net]

@sundogplanets I started off hoping you were describing your dreams, but then I realized you had bad dreams AND all those other things are happening. I'm sorry.

[john380@infosec.exchange]

@sundogplanets hope things improve!

[stevegis_ssg@mas.to]

@sundogplanets

Oh god I'm sorry.

You work so hard and do so much. The world could cut you some fucking slack already.

[grajohnt@chaos.social]

@sundogplanets ERCOT is (politely and wonkishly) ringing alarm bells in Texas. https://www.ercot.com/news/release/04152026-ercot-releases-preliminary

This graph is ludicrous. It shows the requests for power to all providers in ERCOT - the growth in the right bars is driven almost entirely by datacenters (particularly in DFW).

Yes, they're requesting Texas *triple* its power generation over the next six years.

[mayintoronto@beige.party]

@sundogplanets AI data centres create localized heat islands, with temperatures going up by several degrees.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.20897

News article: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ai-data-centers-significantly-heat-121626690.html

[marleenstikker@waag.social]

@sundogplanets https://restofworld.org/2026/global-ewaste-crisis/

[cwebber@social.coop]

@mayintoronto @sundogplanets They also make a constant humming/whirring noise https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-noise-pollution-concernsabout-data-centers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JflFFqbZ1X8

And there's a lot more you can find about the hardware side. I started my career by working in the first megadatacenters. I can tell you also that investment in hardware is not one-time. We don't think of it this way, but computers wear down the same way cars or anything else do, and these machines are being pushed to their limits, and the amount of e-waste for churning through parts is huge.

[cwebber@social.coop]

@mayintoronto @sundogplanets Not to mention that hardware gets outdated, machines get entirely replaced fairly regularly.

[michaelgemar@cosocial.ca]

@sundogplanets Rhetorically it’s interesting to start with the ground-based issues, as on-orbit proponents would presumably argue that they solve many of those problems (power, CO2, water).

Of course, they’re disastrous for other reasons…

[handmade_ghost@sunny.garden]

@sundogplanets Here in Oregon: "Google built its first data center in The Dalles in 2006. In 2012, the tech giant used 12% of The Dalles water supply. By 2024, a third of The Dalles’ water went to Google’s three local data center sites."

More context and data here: https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/15/as-googles-water-demands-grow-the-dalles-aims-to-pull-more-from-mount-hood-forest/