I’ve been warning for some time about the data center threat to ordinary electricity users.
Now I’m finding out data centers used oodles of water.
Consider parts of this Chicago Tribune story about what a data center will do to Will County’s Minooka:
“The buildings have voracious appetites for electricity because, according to Goldman Sachs, a ChatGPT artificial intelligence search uses nearly 10 times more energy on average than the same question on Google. Cryptocurrency power requirements are huge.
“In addition, the buildings have voracious appetites for water because water is the cheapest way to remove heat from the servers…
“At a Wednesday Minooka Village Board meeting, the main topic was water and how to squeeze Equinix’s request for 3 million gallons a day out of Minooka’s total allocation of 9 million when the pipeline is set to open in 2030…
“In his third announcement, Mickler said Equinix still doesn’t know if ComEd will be able to hook the data center up to high-capacity transmission lines that pass directly alongside the southeast edge of its property. These lines help Illinois export a fifth of its power to other states…
“ComEd said in a statement Friday it’s receiving a large volume of data center hookup requests but also must maintain reliable service for all its customers…
“Even if data centers use perfectly pristine electricity, they need so much they could drive up prices for everybody else.
“In 2023, ComEd predicted a 40% increase in its electricity deliveries by 2040, primarily because of data centers.
“Cushman & Wakefield, a Chicago-based real estate services firm, expects electricity demand for northeastern Illinois data centers to more than triple.”
