They pushed the data centers through under the radar without presenting the financial and environmental impacts. Premature. With all the brilliant minds we have in America and other countries, an environmentally and sustainable design could have been created. But I guess the power and greed got in the way. We need to shut this effort down until a sustainable and safe plan is made and fully vetted. By an external, objective and professional organization.
How can anyone "forget"?! I see it outside my kitchen window every day. As the birds are fewer every day. My once green lawn is crispy and mostly dead. I struggle to keep the hundred plus year old native pecan that shades the west end of the house alive along with a pathetic excuse of a vegetable garden, that cries for just a little more water every day. In July, Austin, Texas had all time record heat. daily I watch my indoor/outdoor thermometer climb past 100 degrees. There is no forgetting.
Having lived in Austin (1976-1979), it is always hot there…you think it is bad now wait until you get a data center/surveillance center and it sucks Lake Travis dry…where I live now we are in a drought…climate will ALWAYS cycle and oscillate between extremes and this is and has been true for millennia even b/4 humans got here…ice core data proves this conclusively
I have lived here since the early 80’s. Yes summers are hot but even this July was a record, and August will certainly do it too. Never this kind of unrelentin 20-30 (?) days of hundred degree temps without a drop of rain. Our prevailing southerly breezes usually mean moisture for rain and more shade to moderate the heat. Come hang out at the Quiltfest in Palmer this weekend! It will be really cool. You’ll be shocked by the beauty of these works of fiber art!
I lived here in the early 80’s too. I had a garden then. We did NOT have record heat! We had 15 inches if rain once in about 1984… The lake full, but from rain upstream. IT goes around the heat sink that is Austin now! We already have the data center that is Tesla!
If I may point out that the heat sink that is Austin now is due to concrete everywhere in Austin…the same is true for any big city that has paved over everything at the expense of Mother Nature…concrete absorbs the heat during the day and releases that heat at night so there is no break becos of concrete and asphalt…this a fact of how we have made our beds and now we suffer the consequences
We have to shut down all Data Centers, before we have a Serious Water Shortage, if you notice that of all the Planets in outer space are Dead, and they have no Water Them, Shut down Dara Centers save your World.
Please don't just like this Substack. Restack everything that Erin Brockovich writes to help inform the public about how we need a stop of the building of all data centers stat!
Data Center creates issues like eminent domain, nuclear reactors, A.I. companies building their own power plants – and points out the nonsense –bordering on fraud – being sold to rural America.
Example: Demonstrate running voter rolls for that state – and those take an entire government data center to run – and Fractal Mini Computers run them – in seconds, on this tiny computer – using less power than a table lamp.
Bottom Line - There is no need for more data centers
A.I. centers are modern era dinosaurs because the revenue to keep them polluting, driving neighbors crazy with 24 hour noise, and destroying rural America is nowhere close to what is needed.
The Endangered Species Act was amended earlier this month and will take effect in September. Basically, they removed the blanket protections for our endangered species. They redefined the word "harm" to allow the rapid expansion and development of these data centers AND dangerous transmission lines to continue. They will destroy all of our wildlife's habitats if we do not stop this control grid from being built.
Another stat besides WUE to query is PUE (Power Utilization Effectiveness): Formula is TOTAL facility energy / IT equipment energy. Ideal score is “1” but not many data centers operate this efficiently. (Total facility energy includes HVAC, lighting, power distribution loss, etc.).
Thank you for this vital information on data centers and their water/power usage. The indirect costs to our water supply has been totally ignored in the mainstream press. We all need to keep on top of this since our local and state governments most certainly won't and it's not in their personal interests to do so. This quote proves it:
"It’s also worth noting what the water authority’s own director said about why the number was sealed in the first place. He signs confidentiality agreements tied to economic development projects a couple of times a year. What?!"
How the fuck is it allowed that a public official is signing NDAs that affect their constituency? That should be illegal. Every person should be suing their public officials.
Would be great! And you know who has the most money right now? Big Tech companies. They could really pour some research muscle into all of these places and be leaders.
This is becoming a very real conversation here in Colorado.
We’re seeing major data center proposals arrive in a state where water is already a defining constraint, and what struck me about this piece is the distinction between the water a facility says it uses and the total water required to make the facility possible.
Colorado has already started wrestling with how to regulate these projects, but some of the stronger statewide accountability proposals failed this year. Meanwhile, communities are being asked to weigh enormous promised economic benefits against impacts on water, energy and infrastructure.
Your question — how much water will be consumed, total, including the electricity it draws? — feels like exactly the question Colorado communities should be asking before these projects become faits accomplis.
I’ll be watching this closely from Denver. Thank you for putting a much sharper frame around what “water use” actually means.
Another intriguing labor ripple: AI companies are hiring thousands of electricians and carpenters, with OpenAI, Google, Meta, and others offering record-breaking salaries in the industry (having worked around union trades over 20 years, I’m curious to see how the massive Unions respond to this - they don’t take non-Union presence in their markets well): https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20260730-ai-data-center-electricians/
So-called data centers are better referred to as land and air defiling, energy-guzzling mega “Spy Centers” because they are used for this purpose and have this result in all instances. 😕😒
Over 60% of our country is experiencing drought.
Over 20% of our country is experiencing extreme drought.
Data Centers deserve to die of thirst.
Not our people.
They pushed the data centers through under the radar without presenting the financial and environmental impacts. Premature. With all the brilliant minds we have in America and other countries, an environmentally and sustainable design could have been created. But I guess the power and greed got in the way. We need to shut this effort down until a sustainable and safe plan is made and fully vetted. By an external, objective and professional organization.
No community is ready for this current bullshit.
Isn’t miraculous how all of sudden we forgot about “global warming”????
How can anyone "forget"?! I see it outside my kitchen window every day. As the birds are fewer every day. My once green lawn is crispy and mostly dead. I struggle to keep the hundred plus year old native pecan that shades the west end of the house alive along with a pathetic excuse of a vegetable garden, that cries for just a little more water every day. In July, Austin, Texas had all time record heat. daily I watch my indoor/outdoor thermometer climb past 100 degrees. There is no forgetting.
Having lived in Austin (1976-1979), it is always hot there…you think it is bad now wait until you get a data center/surveillance center and it sucks Lake Travis dry…where I live now we are in a drought…climate will ALWAYS cycle and oscillate between extremes and this is and has been true for millennia even b/4 humans got here…ice core data proves this conclusively
I have lived here since the early 80’s. Yes summers are hot but even this July was a record, and August will certainly do it too. Never this kind of unrelentin 20-30 (?) days of hundred degree temps without a drop of rain. Our prevailing southerly breezes usually mean moisture for rain and more shade to moderate the heat. Come hang out at the Quiltfest in Palmer this weekend! It will be really cool. You’ll be shocked by the beauty of these works of fiber art!
I lived here in the early 80’s too. I had a garden then. We did NOT have record heat! We had 15 inches if rain once in about 1984… The lake full, but from rain upstream. IT goes around the heat sink that is Austin now! We already have the data center that is Tesla!
If I may point out that the heat sink that is Austin now is due to concrete everywhere in Austin…the same is true for any big city that has paved over everything at the expense of Mother Nature…concrete absorbs the heat during the day and releases that heat at night so there is no break becos of concrete and asphalt…this a fact of how we have made our beds and now we suffer the consequences
Well thanks for the mansplainin' ROFLOL!
We have to shut down all Data Centers, before we have a Serious Water Shortage, if you notice that of all the Planets in outer space are Dead, and they have no Water Them, Shut down Dara Centers save your World.
Please don't just like this Substack. Restack everything that Erin Brockovich writes to help inform the public about how we need a stop of the building of all data centers stat!
FRACTAL COMPUTERS
Data Center creates issues like eminent domain, nuclear reactors, A.I. companies building their own power plants – and points out the nonsense –bordering on fraud – being sold to rural America.
Example: Demonstrate running voter rolls for that state – and those take an entire government data center to run – and Fractal Mini Computers run them – in seconds, on this tiny computer – using less power than a table lamp.
Bottom Line - There is no need for more data centers
A.I. centers are modern era dinosaurs because the revenue to keep them polluting, driving neighbors crazy with 24 hour noise, and destroying rural America is nowhere close to what is needed.
Thank you 🙏🏽
The Endangered Species Act was amended earlier this month and will take effect in September. Basically, they removed the blanket protections for our endangered species. They redefined the word "harm" to allow the rapid expansion and development of these data centers AND dangerous transmission lines to continue. They will destroy all of our wildlife's habitats if we do not stop this control grid from being built.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/14/2026-14195/rescinding-the-definition-of-harm-under-the-endangered-species-act
Many hyperscale data center closed-loop systems use fluorinated chemicals. https://ehsciences.org/ai-data-center-health-impacts/
I attended the Uptime Institute’s 2026 Global Data Center Survey call / review today - you can access the Executive Summary here: https://uptimeinstitute.com/resources/research-and-reports/uptime-institute-global-data-center-survey-results-2026
Overall, tracking sustainability is NOT prevalent, nor is it federally regulated / mandated…
Another stat besides WUE to query is PUE (Power Utilization Effectiveness): Formula is TOTAL facility energy / IT equipment energy. Ideal score is “1” but not many data centers operate this efficiently. (Total facility energy includes HVAC, lighting, power distribution loss, etc.).
Thank you for this vital information on data centers and their water/power usage. The indirect costs to our water supply has been totally ignored in the mainstream press. We all need to keep on top of this since our local and state governments most certainly won't and it's not in their personal interests to do so. This quote proves it:
"It’s also worth noting what the water authority’s own director said about why the number was sealed in the first place. He signs confidentiality agreements tied to economic development projects a couple of times a year. What?!"
How the fuck is it allowed that a public official is signing NDAs that affect their constituency? That should be illegal. Every person should be suing their public officials.
What is the feasibility of using solar and wind generation of electricity for data centers?
What about wave and tidal generation?
What about locating data centers where geothermal power is accessible?
These are sources of electricity generation that have much lower water usage (negligible?)
Would be great! And you know who has the most money right now? Big Tech companies. They could really pour some research muscle into all of these places and be leaders.
Seems like the same problems will occur again. All this needs to be self contained within the facility. Not dumped out in the environment.
This is becoming a very real conversation here in Colorado.
We’re seeing major data center proposals arrive in a state where water is already a defining constraint, and what struck me about this piece is the distinction between the water a facility says it uses and the total water required to make the facility possible.
Colorado has already started wrestling with how to regulate these projects, but some of the stronger statewide accountability proposals failed this year. Meanwhile, communities are being asked to weigh enormous promised economic benefits against impacts on water, energy and infrastructure.
Your question — how much water will be consumed, total, including the electricity it draws? — feels like exactly the question Colorado communities should be asking before these projects become faits accomplis.
I’ll be watching this closely from Denver. Thank you for putting a much sharper frame around what “water use” actually means.
Another intriguing labor ripple: AI companies are hiring thousands of electricians and carpenters, with OpenAI, Google, Meta, and others offering record-breaking salaries in the industry (having worked around union trades over 20 years, I’m curious to see how the massive Unions respond to this - they don’t take non-Union presence in their markets well): https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20260730-ai-data-center-electricians/
Bad news for Kentucky: NextEra Energy Inc., the largest US power utility, is teaming up with Brookfield on a more than $100 billion transformation of a shuttered Cold War uranium-enrichment facility in Kentucky into a data center campus with a generating plant. https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/nextera-brookfield-build-100-billion-110000074.html
Wonderful reporting 💧💧💧💧
So-called data centers are better referred to as land and air defiling, energy-guzzling mega “Spy Centers” because they are used for this purpose and have this result in all instances. 😕😒