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Environment & Energy

jmowreader

(52,397 posts)

3. They're building a lot of these around Moses Lake, WA

Reply to NickB79 (Original post)

Sat Jan 11, 2025, 11:00 AM

Jan 2025

Moses Lake has a BIG advantage over somewhere like Minnesota: the power generation capacity of the Bonneville Power Administration, who makes most of the electricity around here, was designed largely to support aluminum smelters. Since they're not smelting aluminum in the Northwest any longer, we have a lot of unused capacity - perfect for power-hungry uses like data centers.

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Mega data centers are coming to Minnesota. Their power needs are staggering. [View all] NickB79 Jan 2025 OP

I attended two Silicon Valley Conferences last year about this very topic. CoopersDad Jan 2025 #1

Water is a huge concern NickB79 Jan 2025 #2

Water for cooling the data centers where all of the power is converted into heat. CoopersDad Jan 2025 #5

They're building a lot of these around Moses Lake, WA jmowreader Jan 2025 #3

What is the purpose of these data centers? roomtomove Jan 2025 #4

Mostly for AI, especially generative AI. Google's AI search, for instance, requires about 10x the computing highplainsdem Jan 2025 #6

Your bottle of water comparison is exactly how a professor friend described it NickB79 Jan 2025 #8

Our AI overlords are sucking up all the resources from humans. Irish_Dem Jan 2025 #7