"Thirsty data centers are sprouting like weeds in parts of the West that are already arid and now gripped by severe drought. In the greater Phoenix area, proposed housing developments have died due to a lack of available groundwater. Yet data centers, each of which can consume an entire sprawling subdivision’s worth, face no such requirements or water restrictions."
High Country News
The West's data centers suck (water and power) - High Country News
From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.
 It can be hard to believe how nihilistic and willfully destructive the tech bros are.
“One AI Video Burns More Power Than Your House”: Shocking Energy Cost Sparks Outcry as Critics Say “This Is Digital Arson” "When it comes to multimodal tasks, such as generating a five-second AI video, the numbers skyrocket. This process requires approximately 3.4 million joules or 2.9 kilowatt-hours of energy, equivalent to three and a half hours of continuous cooking."
“One AI Video Burns More Power Than Your House”: Shocking Energy Cost Sparks Outcry as Critics Say “This Is Digital Arson”
To maximize profit, solar panels prefer very large, flat open spaces with lots of sun. Deserts seem perfect. “It might look like a barren wilderness, but this stretch of the Mojave is a rich and fragile habitat for endangered species and home to thousand-year-old carbon-capturing woodlands and ancient Indigenous cultural sites,” Oliver Wainwright wrote for the Guardian. In this delicate ecosystem they installed a giant 600-acre solar factory.
Gerry McGovern
Solar panels destroying deserts
"We can, if need be, ransack the whole globe, penetrate into the bowels of the earth, descend to the bottom of the deep, travel to the farthest regions of this world, to acquire wealth, to increase our knowledge, or even only to please our eye and fancy." William Derham (1657-1735), English clergyman The devouring, imperialist attitude to our envirnment is an old one.
Freshwater loss is “a critical, emerging threat to humanity.” "The landmasses of the planet are drying. In most places there is less precipitation even as moisture evaporates from the soil faster. More than anything, Earth is being slowly dehydrated by the unmitigated mining of groundwater." Meanwhile, a typical AI interaction consumes a glass of water. What are we doing?
ProPublica
“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat
A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.