No wonder Bezos wants Venice for his wedding Two companies stood out in BI's analysis as having the most data centers in high or extremely high water-stressed areas: Amazon, with 81, and Microsoft, with 23. Amazon still prefers water-intensive evaporative cooling technologies
Business Insider
As drought deepens, big tech has put nearly half of its data centers in water-scarce regions
The largest data centers can guzzle millions of gallons of fresh water a day. Roughly 40% are located in the most water-stressed areas of the count...
So, the way we're going to solve climate change and save the Amazon is by auctioning off oil sites in the Amazon. Also, we're having a big conference on saving the Amazon in the Amazon and we're building a huge road, an airport for private jets and some luxury hotels for some very specials VIPs. All in the Amazon! Wow hee!! Brazil auctions off several Amazon oil sites despite environmentalists and Indigenous protests
MSN
Northern Virginia data centers have topped 4,900 megawatts. What does that mean? “Four thousand nine hundred megawatts, give or take, is about equivalent to about 50 million square feet. To compare that to the Northern Virginia office market, it is about 140 million square feet.
WTOP News
Northern Virginia data centers have topped 4,900 megawatts. What does that mean? - WTOP News
Real estate firm JLL’s quarterly report on global data centers once again ranks Northern Virginia as the world’s largest data center market. An...
Energy demands for AI data centers are expected to rise by between 325 and 580 TWh by 2028, roughly the amount of electricity consumed by 30 to 54 million American households annually. This demand is projected to increase data centers’ share of total U.S. electricity consumption to between 6.7% and 12.0% by 2028.
Federation of American Scientists
Adaptive Reuse of Coal Infrastructure to Support Data Centers
The decline of the coal industry in the late 20th century led to the dismantling of the economic engine of American coal communities. The AI boom o...
"India, the world’s third-largest generator of e-waste, is facing a growing environmental and public health challenge. The country produces over 1.6 million metric tonnes of e-waste every year and the volume is growing at 23% annually. Yet, formal collection and recycling remain critically low, with the informal sector handling over 95% of the discarded."
The Times of India
India’s e-waste time bomb: As volumes surge, gaps in recycling widen | Delhi News - The Times of India
India grapples with a surging e-waste crisis, generating over 1.6 million metric tonnes annually, growing at 23%. Informal sectors handle 95% of this,
 E-waste is the fastest growing and most toxic waste in the world.
AI is more likely to create a generation of ‘yes-men on servers’ than any scientific breakthroughs Today’s large language models excel at producing plausible answers but lack the creativity to ask original scientific questions. Rather than building the next Einstein, Wolf said, we may be creating a generation of digital “yes-men.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/ai-is-more-likely-to-create-a-generation-of-yes-men-on-servers-than-any-scientific-breakthroughs-hugging-face-co-founder-says
Gold is evil. Gold mining has done devastating damage to our environment To get one gold ring you must poison 20 tons of soil and water What does this say about a civilization that loves gold so much? Mercury poisoning in Peru's Amazon found in nearly 80 per cent of villagers in recent study Illegal gold mining operations dumping mercury into the Amazon River is a central factor, experts say https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/mercury-poisoning-gold-mining-1.7566978
A solar firm in Minnesota is suing Google for defamation after the tech giant's shoddy AI Overviews feature allegedly made up wild lies about the company — and significantly hurt its business as a result. "This lawsuit is not just about defending our company's reputation; it's about standing up for fairness, truth, and accountability in the age of artificial intelligence," Nicholas Kasprowicz, general counsel for the solar company, Wolf River Electric, said.
Futurism
Solar Company Sues Google for Giving Damaging Information in AI Overviews
Google's shoddy AI Overviews allegedly spread damaging lies about a solar company, which is now suing the tech giant for defamation.
Thailand "has witnessed a huge influx of electrical and electronic waste in recent years. Old mobile phones, computers, circuit boards and fridges are being shipped to the country and processed, often in unlicensed industrial sites."
BBC Audio | Business Daily | Thailand’s battle against e-waste
The country has seen a huge influx of old computers, circuit boards and mobile phones
 The Global North constantly dumps its e-waste in the Global South. Colonialism and imperialism never goes away. It just changes its clothes.
"One of the most common methods for cooling datacentres involves mechanical chillers, which work like large fridges. These machines use a fluid called a refrigerant to carry heat away from servers and release it through a condenser. A lot of water is lost as it turns into vapour during cooling process." "Unlike water used in a dishwasher or a toilet, which often returns to a treatment facility to be recycled, the water in cooling systems literally vanishes into the air."
The Conversation
AI is gobbling up water it cannot replace – I’m working on a solution
AI is turning up the heat on datacentres, causing their water use to soar.