#aidatacentres — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #aidatacentres, aggregated by home.social.
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It turns out that AI processes pose unique problems for data centres and the grids that power them.
“Compared to a traditional Google search that would consume about 0.3 watt-hours of electricity, an AI query—such as a ChatGPT- or Google AI-powered response—can use up to 10 times as much.”
“Dramatic fluctuations can affect power quality through harmonic distortions’ to the grid.”
Read this concerning report from my colleague Chris Bonasia at The Energy Mix!
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The Alberta government is not telling you the whole truth about the impact of data centres on electricity prices.
But when Premier Danielle Smith was confronted with a Pembina analysis showing prices for consumers are likely going up - by hundreds of dollars annually - she as much as admitted it was true.
Her suggestion was that Albertans should lock in power prices before the massive Meta data centre comes online. And Meta is the first of many with the electricity regulator planning to double the amount of grid power it provides to data centres.
This is a policy choice the government is making, because there are better ways to do this.
Read my latest report for The Energy Mix!
#ableg #cdnpoli #electricity #AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #affordability
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#Texas Gov. #GregAbbott on #AIDataCenter Backlash: 'They Dug Their Own Grave'
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, August 23, 2026
"#NewYork Gov. #KathyHochul (D) and #Kentucky Gov. #AndyBeshear (D) have pushed back against the expansion of #AIDataCenters in their respective states. But with the increasing backlash from communities and individuals toward new #datacenter construction and expansion, even governors that have embraced the #AIRevolution, like #Pennsylvania's #JoshShapiro (D), are now moderating and talking about scaling back.
"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is one governor whose state has embraced the data center expansion. In November 2025, Abbott declared that Texas is the 'epicenter of AI development' in his announcement of #Google building three data center campuses to the tune of $40 million dollars.
"Fast forward to August of 2026, and Abbott acknowledges that much of the community resistance to the construction of new and existing data centers is the fault of the AI companies."
[...]
"Abbott is not wrong. According to a report from #DataCenterWatch, 64 billion in data center projects have been blocked or delayed in #Arizona, #Utah, #Missouri, #Oregon, and #California, to name a few. Even formerly friendly #Virginia is pushing back. #CommunityOpposition surrounds the lack of information provided and the lack of accountability taken towards the citizens who will be most affected.
"Water and power concerns loom large. Many of the newer development concepts, like entrepreneur #KevinOLeary 's 9 megawatt #StratosProject in #Utah, will have their own self-sustaining water and power systems. However, this did not prevent the backlash by #environmentalists and local activists to shut the Stratos Project down, and Utah state lawmakers ultimately backpedaled from their original approval and requested O'Leary cut the project's 400,000-acre footprint down to 10,000, about 75 percent. "
#AISucks #AIDataCenters #AIResistance #USPol #WorldPol #Datacenters #Datacentres #AIDatacentres #WaterIsLife #NoisePollution #LandIsLife #EnergyConsumption
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The AI data centre shenanigans in Alberta are getting more outlandish. More than 12,000 people attended a virtual town hall meeting, with many more left hanging when they weren’t invited to join the conference call.
Municipalities are hiding behind non-disclosure agreements, repeating marketing slogans directly from company promotions, and some are even signing agreements to act as agents for data centre proponents while also regulating them. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?
It’s the wild west for data centre developers with little or no guardrails for water use, electricity prices, farmland protection, noise/air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions or local community benefits.
It’s the perfect environment for misinformation to thrive.
#ableg #cdnpoli #AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #water #electricitygrid #GHGemissions
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Frustrated about the lack of information about data centres in Alberta?
One woman decided to take the bull by the horns and build a website - one source of truth about all the data centres operating, approved, under construction and proposed.
There’s nothing like it anywhere else, including on the provincial government’s website.
I asked Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish, who has complained about misinformation at the recent town halls, several questions about transparency.
Despite promises to get back to me with answers…no response arrived as the publishing deadline came and went.
https://www.theenergymix.com/alberta-woman-maps-out-the-facts-about-power-hungry-data-centres/
#ableg #cdnpoli #AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #maps #GHGemissions
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The Olds power plant/data centre is not in the public interest. Residents who’ve been fighting it for more than seven months are exhausted but elated. More than 900 people were granted intervenor status in the Alberta utility regulator’s hearing because it was determined they all could’ve been impacted.
It was too much, too close to people’s homes, and even without the government’s promised new rules around siting projects, the AUC said “enough.”
Read the breaking story!
#ableg #cdnpoli #AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #saveolds #fossilfuels #climate
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The Energy Mix invited me to write an opinion/analysis of Sturgeon County’s late responses to my latest report on their declaration of an agricultural disaster, an outcome almost certainly due to climate change.
When asked about their approval of the Meta AI data centre, the mayor would not agree to an interview but one of the county’s managers replied a day and a half after the story was published. He had a lot to say (1,700+ words by my count) and we wanted you to read it first hand.
A non-disclosure agreement with Meta, a bylaw that blocks public input, “we have no authority” to consider climate change impacts, and absolutely no - we’re not looking at Meta’s conduct or court decisions finding them at fault.
Read the full response from Sturgeon County, with links to sources allowing for a deeper dive.
#ableg #cdnpoli #AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #disaster #agriculture #climatechange.
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I'll have another piece about Meta's Sturgeon County AI data centre. It's coming out tomorrow and will be posted overnight.
The county's responses to my questions came in a day and a half late, but revealed some surprising things. So, we're running their full answers (with my commentary) in the Energy Mix Weekender edition on Substack. It's free to subscribe!
Most important question now is - WTH does "carbon-ready" even mean? And why is a government official now talking about this as if it is an actual "thing"?
Oh, and there's definitely been non-disclosure agreements signed.
In the meantime, here are seven ways governments can stop secret data centre deals, compiled by a US group called "Public Citizen."
TLDR: Just say no to NDA's
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I've got a breaking news story and I am shocked to report that everyone replied to my emails this time!
O'Leary's Wonder Valley project loses big in the courts today.
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation wins big.
It turns out transparency is important for Court of King's Bench Justices. They get annoyed as much as we do when information is redacted.
#ableg #cdnpoli #WonderValleyAlberta #AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #Indigenous #DutytoConsult #Justice