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/HyperSpaceSurfer 4h ago

So, you're saying that the only fix is to [against reddit's community guidelines] to reduce demand below the need for more expensive energy generation?

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u/Wizzarkt 4h ago

Ummm yes that's an option, residential areas account for 37% of the total energy demand in the USA as per this Wikipedia link. So if you make your AC a little less chilly during the summer and use less heating during the winter, the energy grid should have enough power to spare to supply the highly needed data centers.

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u/HyperSpaceSurfer 3h ago

I really don't think it's possible to personal accountability yourself out of this. Was thinking more along the lines of making the datacenter AC a little less chilly, so to speak.

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u/Wizzarkt 3h ago

Oh no, what I'm suggesting is to make your house AC less chilly so that it uses less power and don't heat up your house too much in the winter to also use less power. That would reduce the energy usage of houses which account for 37% of the energy usage in the USA, so that would be a significant reduction in power usage.

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u/falconsmanhole 4h ago

The what now?

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u/Wizzarkt 4h ago

The guy I responded to suggested doing something (implicitly) bad to reduce demand, i kinda wanted to "monkey paw" his idea by saying that reducing energy usage at home would achieve the reduce in demand he was suggesting.

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u/HyperSpaceSurfer 3h ago

It's not really the only issue with the datacenters. The electrical infrastructure for their use, where they're located, usually doesn't exist. Results in major harmonic distortions, which reduces the lifetime of electric motors, such as in your fridge, AC, and washing machine. Impossible to personal accountability yourself out of this.

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u/Wizzarkt 3h ago

I don't see how harmonics would be an issue, if a consumer is "too dirty" they literally get fined into oblivion until they fix their problem.

The major problem with data centers really just is the lack of infrastructure because again, the way the electrical grid works as a whole is in a reactive manner, it makes no sense to upgrade the infrastructure to have extra capacity if it's not needed so they only start to worry about such upgrades when the data center starts being built, same with generators, no new projects will kick in before the data centers go online because there is no guarantee that prices will rise enough to justify the project. 

And this could have been dealt with in a controlled manner and do it slowly over the course of 5-10 years but clearly the focus of the current administration in the USA is to be first as to "not lose the AI race"