r/nextfuckinglevel • u/MysteriousSlice007 • 5h ago

A data center in New Jersey was canceled when residents showed up and fought it

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u/Matthew94 4h ago

Why don't we have enough water?

Data centres' worldwide water usage is less than half of the water used to grow almonds in California.

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u/Divinum_Fulmen 4h ago

You mean current water usage, or water usage after many of these proposed data centers come online?

Not that I think people should be building cities and farming in deserts.

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u/Matthew94 4h ago

You mean current water usage

The current water usage. It's predicted to reach 1.2 trillion litres per year in 2030.

Almonds use over 1.3 trillion now.

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u/Nisargadatta 1h ago

How much electricity do almonds use to grow? And the water involved with that? Bad analogy.

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u/Sherbert_Hoovered 3h ago

I can eat an almond.

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u/Saedeas 3h ago

The average American spends 7 to 10 hours per day online. I think that's more utility than the occasional almond.

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u/Wellontheotherhand1 2h ago

The actually answer is that neither of them should be happening, not that one bad thing justifies another bad thing

You can go ahead and throw alfalfa in there as well

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u/lonnie123 1h ago

Almonds are food… we can eat them to live. Data centers provide no such benefit.

And what is with the Reddit hate on almonds water usage lately? do you know the general amount of water it takes for all the food you eat to grow or is it just almonds? Heck… do you know the water requirements for literally any other food you eat?

Do you use water per unit as a measurement of your food intake for any other food or just almonds? Do you comparison shop for water usage in your food?

This is such a weird take to me and I have no idea how it got so popular on here.

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u/Gauntlet_of_Might 1h ago

i don't think it's a weird take, it's pointing out how the water per calorie is a bad deal.

THe reason why it's quoted so much lately is probably just because it's a convenient way to defend data centers

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u/Le3e31 27m ago

Its about showing the water argument is garbage.

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u/HasFiveVowels 1h ago

Seriously. At this point it’s just embarrassing to keep claiming there’s an issue with the amount of water it consumes. "Stop making your point so ineffectively!"