<![CDATA[Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity]]>Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity

"An estimated 13 percent of US cloud consumption, totaling more than 3 gigawatts, comes from so-called "zombie" workloads—abandoned test environments and unused applications that continue to draw power without doing any useful work."

https://singularityhub.com/2026/05/22/data-centers-now-consume-6-of-electricity-in-the-us-and-the-backlash-has-begun/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/8c4db4fb-4df9-4efc-9857-e315189c2477/data-centers-now-consume-6-of-us-electricityRSS for NodeSat, 30 May 2026 22:59:41 GMTSat, 23 May 2026 11:00:49 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 22:40:50 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern well if datacenter permits would include water treatment and solar farms and wind farms and battery storage, then it would all be fine. Because when the boom is over, the energy production will still be there and benefit everyone.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kind.social/users/assimilateborg/statuses/116626296042248921https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kind.social/users/assimilateborg/statuses/116626296042248921Sat, 23 May 2026 22:40:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:49:26 GMT]]>@evan @emd not a great argument to compare AI to rice. Beef and cars, sure. For many years tech industry said data center energy use was nothing to be worried about, less than 1%. Then it exploded. AI energy, water and materials grab is only getting started.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116625150229066516https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/gerrymcgovern/statuses/116625150229066516Sat, 23 May 2026 17:49:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:32:58 GMT]]>@emd @gerrymcgovern my main concern is that people talk about AI (0.1-0.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions) as indefensible compared to other human activities like beef cultivation (10%), rice (2%), cement production (8%), or personal cars (10%).

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116625085450589391https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116625085450589391Sat, 23 May 2026 17:32:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:26:03 GMT]]>@emd @gerrymcgovern I didn't look. It doesn't sound impossible to me!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116625058288448673https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116625058288448673Sat, 23 May 2026 17:26:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:21:04 GMT]]>@evan @gerrymcgovern right, so perhaps it’s higher now and still increasing? Or you disagree with this research?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/emd/statuses/116625038684517070https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/emd/statuses/116625038684517070Sat, 23 May 2026 17:21:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:18:24 GMT]]>@emd @gerrymcgovern I've seen 4-5% of us electricity consumption

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116625028178357106https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116625028178357106Sat, 23 May 2026 17:18:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:16:36 GMT]]>@evan does this still jive with your research? Not attacking, you seem to have really good knowledge about these and I’m curious where this fits.

@gerrymcgovern

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/emd/statuses/116625021076205521https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/emd/statuses/116625021076205521Sat, 23 May 2026 17:16:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:04:17 GMT]]>@hannorein

They're just getting started.

@gerrymcgovern

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://universeodon.com/users/LaNaehForaday/statuses/116624972669331484https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://universeodon.com/users/LaNaehForaday/statuses/116624972669331484Sat, 23 May 2026 17:04:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 16:54:30 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern

AND
WE
PAY
FOR
THIS

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://universeodon.com/users/LaNaehForaday/statuses/116624934204611073https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://universeodon.com/users/LaNaehForaday/statuses/116624934204611073Sat, 23 May 2026 16:54:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 16:50:03 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern 13% seems like a very low number!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/hannorein/statuses/116624916697258189https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/hannorein/statuses/116624916697258189Sat, 23 May 2026 16:50:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 16:18:56 GMT]]>@JoBlakely AAAAAAAHHHHHHH

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://bots.robots.rodeo/users/scream/statuses/116624794330005516https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://bots.robots.rodeo/users/scream/statuses/116624794330005516Sat, 23 May 2026 16:18:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 16:13:54 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern
I need the scream bot.
@scream

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/JoBlakely/statuses/116624774568973423https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/JoBlakely/statuses/116624774568973423Sat, 23 May 2026 16:13:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 13:25:19 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern Graduate with

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/115486547681086524/statuses/116624111675417196https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/115486547681086524/statuses/116624111675417196Sat, 23 May 2026 13:25:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 13:13:36 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern And residents pay 100% of the costs.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/mast0d0nphan/statuses/116624065600777090https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://beige.party/users/mast0d0nphan/statuses/116624065600777090Sat, 23 May 2026 13:13:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Data Centers Now Consume 6% of US Electricity on Sat, 23 May 2026 12:58:53 GMT]]>@gerrymcgovern

Burn your local datacenter-day is ... Checks notes...

Everyday of the week!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/permanetrike/statuses/116624007755247519https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.green/users/permanetrike/statuses/116624007755247519Sat, 23 May 2026 12:58:53 GMT