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    Americans’ AI hate wave might just be gathering steam: Data centers could hike power costs in some states over 50% by 2030
    Technology

    Americans’ AI hate wave might just be gathering steam: Data centers could hike power costs in some states over 50% by 2030

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    1. Wagamaga on

      For years, the American power grid was a bastion of predictable stability. Throughout the 2010s, U.S. electricity demand remained flat as efficiency gains and declines in energy-intensive sectors such as manufacturing helped obscure the dawning digital age. 

      But the power grid as it once was might be no match for the technological demands of the 2020s. Retail electricity prices have soared in recent years, an increase fast outpacing inflation over the same period, in part due to the rising power costs associated with the artificial intelligence-driven infrastructure boom. Electricity costs have been one of the factors fueling the recent nosedive AI has taken in public polling, and a new study suggests residential utility pain tied to the technology needs of this decade might be just getting started.

      Between 2018 and 2023, the share represented by data centers in total U.S. electricity use rose from 1.9% to 4.4%, according to a study published last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters. 

    2. NoScallion2856 on

      Increasing our electric bills just to power AI data centers is ridiculous.

    4. AlwaysBananas on

      I want to know how they plan to defend these data centers. It certainly *feels* like their current plan is cause mass disruption to society in the next five or so years with nice big buildings that say “it cost me an ungodly sum of money to build this, and it caused all of you to lose trust in reality, lose your income stream, lose the hope that your children could grow into a successful and fulfilling career, and also it’s transparently the reason your energy costs are skyrocketing. I sure hope nothing bad happens to my giant energy intensive fragile death god machine.”

    5. Getafix69 on

      We will take your jobs, water and hike your bills to make the billionaires richer.

      Win win right 👀

    7. Agitated_Ad6191 on

      Just let them build those data centers only in red maga states. This is what they voted for. Fuck them.

    8. not_right on

      Needs to be the law that if you want to build a data centre you also have to build the (sustainable) power supply for it.

    10. FearlessDoughnut5643 on

      Republican states are going to sell their people out. I guarantee it

    11. rodg2062 on

      😱 data centers can affect energy bills. No way, hasn’t everyone been watching how they’ll have no impact on electric bills or the environment. 🤣🤣🤣

    14. Ada_Pearce on

      These data centers are simply unnecessary and they shit everything up. There is zero reason for people to support them