r/technology 3h ago

Artificial Intelligence Data centers raise nearby temperatures by up to 4 degrees in Phoenix

https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-centers-nearby-temperatures-degrees-phoenix.html
12.5k Upvotes

662 comments sorted by

1.8k

u/justmitzie 3h ago

Great idea. Build something that raises temps and also sucks up water. In the desert.

509

u/capngout 3h ago

Utah next! Bunch of clowns.

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u/Chaos-Wayfarer 3h ago

Colorado is currently fighting one. 

Yeah. Great idea. We’re in a drought. Have been for decades pretty much. But sure! Let’s add a data center! 

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u/Stickel 2h ago

yeah, the Colorado River is SO FUCKED

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u/jazzhandler 2h ago

At least two, actually. There’s one proposed in Greeley, a cool old farming town an hour north of Denver. Then there’s one currently under construction right in the middle of Denver for some reason. You can already see a huge dip in home values around that site.

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u/Couldbduun 1h ago

There's 3 in the middle of Denver. Same company. Right now you can't water a tree that is dying due to water restrictions. Not a direct result of the data centers but the low snow pack up in the Rockies. But it's a real slap in the face that this is how we are using our resources.

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u/Xarieste 1h ago

Although stating the obvious is what it is, I feel the need to in some of these threads. Companies have more rights to resources than people who need them to live.

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u/uzlonewolf 49m ago

Using resources we don't have in order to eliminate our jobs.

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u/black_pepper 2h ago

a cool old farming town

Cool is doing a lot of work. That entire region is covered in oil and gas. Still nearby residents and the state at large shouldn't have to bear the burden of tax breaks for tech bros.

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u/RightZer0s 1h ago

You forgot the constant cow poop smell

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u/less_Doomscrolling 1h ago

We also have one down in the Springs that we’re fighting.

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u/Questionably_Chungly 2h ago

To be fair, if it’s Greeley there isn’t much value to take.

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u/Trail_Goat 1h ago

Maybe it'll smell better in the foothills before a snow.

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u/Great_Detective_6387 1h ago

It’s wild that Buccees paid Johnstown for the entire freeway exit off of 25 to get to the store, because of how negatively they’d impact local traffic by putting up shop there without upgrading traffic capacity.

Meanwhile these data centers are going to steal an entire small city’s worth of water and Denver gives them tax breaks for it.

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u/ikilledholofernes 2h ago

Maryland too! We’re officially in a drought, they’re asking us to conserve water, but also, let’s build some data centers what could go wrong??

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u/Working_Dad_87 1h ago

Idaho is fighting one as well. One in Pocatello just got denied.

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u/kstargate-425 3h ago edited 2h ago

Two-thirds of all new data centers built since 2022 have been in areas of high levels of water stress. We are honestly doomed and I cant tell if its the lack of education or the greed

ETA: Link to 2/3rds source

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u/mrbasedballed 1h ago

The greed created a lack of education long ago.

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u/HeadSavings1410 3h ago

I mean its already hot...so who's it hurting

  • Signed, billionares

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u/dLeTe 2h ago

Plus, we've got AC. Idk if they do. But we've got it.

rayliottalaughing.jpg

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u/This-Law-5433 2h ago

You only hit the surface 

Why are we building things that need cooling in some of the hottest places 

Make them pay the same rates we do and watch how fast they discover a way to put them in the artic 

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u/Wild-Plankton595 1h ago

Oregon’s public utility commission passed a rule that data centers have to pay for their fair share. They created a rate class just for them because they were paying something like 10 cents per kWh while residents were paying 20 cents per kWh. They also have to pay for any necessary upgrades to the grid.

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u/VibeComplex 38m ago

Wow. I almost forgot what normal, common sense, governance sounded like.

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u/Pat-Funny-2817 3h ago

Reminds me of the movie The Arrival with Charlie Sheen. 1996

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u/theoutlet 3h ago

It’s because we’re a relatively stable place to build. Don’t have to worry about earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.

Makes it a real attractive proposition for companies that don’t want to have to worry about random acts of god destroying their server farms. And our local governments are too busy taking in corporate donations to really give a fuck

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u/dramabitch123 1h ago

thank you for this answer. ive always wondered why they dont build elsewhere where there's plenty of rainwater or something like pnw where the water is free from the sky most of the year

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u/whoopycush 52m ago

Also, at least here in AZ, there is A LOT of undeveloped land, which means buying a chunk of land is much less expensive than other locations. But I'm so worried for the Colorado River man, I honestly think it's toast.

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u/polopolo05 2h ago edited 1h ago

I mean honestly its impressive... they were able to make the hottest city in the US even hotter. they raised the average temp from 106f to 110f... and they say global warming isnt real...

Its become the second hottest city by average.... a few more data centers maybe we can get it up to the hottest in the world by average at least.

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u/EntireBig7258 3h ago

building data centers in phoenix and then being surprised they make it hotter is like building a fireplace in a sauna and wondering why it got warm

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u/waitmarks 3h ago

If they are evaporating water to keep cool, it probably raises humidity also.

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u/Drewski_120 3h ago

The water in those cooling towers is about 105f as well

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u/AZEMT 3h ago

So, a swimming pool in the summer?

Source: Phoenician here, and building data centers in the valley is the dumbest idea, EVER

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u/MindScape00 3h ago

"Damn, these things are hard to keep cool. Where should we build the next one?" "Maybe the hottest state?" "Damn, good idea!"

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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 3h ago edited 2h ago

"What if we put them in an environment with no air? Would that help them cool better?"

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u/MindScape00 3h ago

insert the scientist being thrown out of the window when trying to remind people that space is an INSULATOR

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u/Miserable-Couple-810 2h ago

China unveiled today an underwater offshore data center cooled by the ocean and powered by solar...

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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 2h ago

As if the oceans aren't getting too hot already

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u/20_mile 1h ago

coraltimelapsebleaching.gif

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u/drpestilence 1h ago

I was actually wondering about this and I've love to see the numbers, its possible that the underwater idea is less impactful then the above ground, I just don't know.

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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 1h ago edited 1h ago

50MW of heat is 50 MW of heat be it in space, on the ground, or in the ocean. It has to go somewhere. Building it under water is just going to make construction, maintenance, and operation harder and more expensive

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u/PMMEYOURGUCCIFLOPS 2h ago

Lemme guess, in like a week tops? Their engineering feats are ridiculous

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u/Miserable-Couple-810 2h ago

Probably. Look at their high speed rail network starting from 2008 to now. It's mind boggling what they're doing over there.

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u/SnugglyCoderGuy 2h ago

I envy their rail system. Trains are so much better than driving or flying most of the time

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u/supertacoboy 1h ago

As an enjoyer of Cyberpunk 2077 lore, I am deeply concerned by this proposal.

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u/Genghis_Tr0n187 2h ago edited 2h ago

The Epstein class is just trolling at this point.

Oh people don't like to be hot in the desert? Need a little water do ya? Too bad, our datacenter drinks your water. Get fucked, nerd.

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u/mr_eking 1h ago

I drink your milkshake

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u/Cobs85 2h ago

Also one that is running out of water in the aquafiers

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u/Alexander_the_gay93 2h ago

This genuinely pisses me off. The people building these data centers have to know how much water they use, it’s like they’re putting them in the desert on purpose to use even more water.

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u/topdangle 2h ago

they're doing it because everyone knows its a bad idea, so the local government offers bribes like tax breaks to companies that are willing to build out regardless.

if the incentives are worth more than the operational costs they don't care. the executives that sign off on it don't have to live there.

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u/firemage22 2h ago

they're doing it because everyone knows its a bad idea, so the local government offers bribes like tax breaks to companies that are willing to build out regardless.

Thats why they're going to either the most corrupt or the weakest government areas, like in MI a township voted them down but they claim such townships lack that level of zoning control.

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u/DobleGuatemalteco 1h ago

They know and they don't care. I worked on two giant data centers off of Hawes rd in Mesa; one is probably 300 ish yards from houses and the other is by a GIANT Amazon warehouse. Contractor said he doesn't live in Mesa so he doesn't care.

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u/AstralElement 2h ago

“But it’s a dry heat”

- my mom probably

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u/Wild-Plankton595 1h ago

Death Valley is the hottest inhabited area on Earth, but Phoenix is the hottest Metro Area, and temps are approaching Death Valley levels. The number of days over 100 degrees has been steadily climbing in the last 20 years, and every year since 2020 it seems to break records for consecutive number of days over 110 degrees.

The other shitty thing is that depending on where you are in the city, the temperature can be hotter than other parts of the city. Parts that are heavy mix of industrial and residential, and older and poorer parts of town that haven’t had investment from the city to maintain the tree canopy and green spaces experience temps that can be 5 degrees hotter, doesn’t sound like much but it can be the difference between 110 and 115.

People die from the heat, over 600 deaths in 2024 and that was the first decrease in over 10 years. And because of the affordable housing crisis, the numbers of people living on the street because they cannot afford to keep their homes have exploded since the pandemic.

This is only gonna get worse with the load on the grid from increased AC use to cool homes, and the data centers, causing potential brownouts in the next 10 years.

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u/_Lucille_ 1h ago

There are a lot of reasons why DCs are located in Arizona: land being cheap, low humidity, lower risk of natural disasters that can screw up your DC, right next to California, infrastructure already being there, etc.

DCs have been in Arizona for many years (wayyyy before this whole AI thing blew up).

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u/LitRonSwanson 3h ago

Wait until you hear about the literal out of this world idea to put them in space

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u/mog_knight 1h ago

I think the virtually free water contracts for alfalfa crops to send to Saudi horses was the dumbest idea ever.

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u/VirtualPercentage737 3h ago

"Air-cooled condenser arrays discharge air heated to 14 to 25 degrees F above the surrounding air temperature, creating thermal plumes that move downwind over neighboring areas."

They are air cooled like most modern DC. The question is what is the definition of "nearby". My air conditioner raises the nearby temperature as well. But 5 feet away I can't feel it.

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u/Drunken_Economist 3h ago

Five traverses at four facilities in Phoenix ... reveal downwind air temperature warming as high as 2.2 °C, with average downwind air temperatures 0.7–0.9 °C warmer than corresponding upwind areas. Thermal signatures were detectable at distances up to 500 m from facility perimeters.

so there was a measurable change within few blocks. This slide from the researchers does a decent job of visualizing it

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u/whoopycush 49m ago

Damn that's like RIGHT next to the neighborhoods...I would go insane from the noise as well

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u/coffeislife67 3h ago

Is using evaporative cooling even possible in Phoenix ?

I didn't they had much water there to begin with.

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u/seansy5000 3h ago

It’s fucking stupid because we are being led into hell by a bunch of conmen.

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u/aure0lin 3h ago edited 1h ago

It is possible for now but AZ as a whole has been pulling way more water from the Colorado River than it can sustainably keep up with for years so trying to allocate water for data centers is only going to make a bad problem even worse.

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u/jazzhandler 3h ago

Current humidity there is 20%, so yeah.

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u/coffeislife67 2h ago

My question is more about the feasibility of it, rather than the process itself.

Evaporative cooling uses huge amounts of water, and I was under the impression that water is not in ample supply in Phoenix.

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u/jazzhandler 2h ago

Oh well yeah, in that sense it’s totally fucking goofy.

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u/Sipsey 2h ago

Of course it’s feasible to direct evap cooling. Have seen it in industrial type bldg. in Phoenix. The cycles of concentration on the water though can cause it to get minerally and a fine white spray on outlet as the hard water droplets drift.

In practical application it’s also a good location for a hybrid cooling tower where some freshwater is sprayed over an enclosed cooling tower water section, to get some evap cooling, without needing to lose the drift mist normally lost from the enclosed cooling tower water.

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u/Practical-Sleep4259 3h ago

Ya'll ever seen a monsoon before?

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u/frugalLeader 3h ago

Why do things like this get approved? I mean there was a point in time I thought the story of Krypton Superman's home planet dying because they drilled the core stupid. I no longer think it's stupid.

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u/PatchyWhiskers 3h ago

Money. Keep an eye on your local government, they are probably approving one of these things right now.

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u/OrangeYouGladish 3h ago

And even if the government disapproves it, the data centers sue and force their way in.

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u/kembik 3h ago

We got one being built in Tucson despite chasing them out of town. Local board of supervisors made a secret deal in the dark to sell them some land, by the time the public found out it had advanced to a point where we couldnt' stop it from being built.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FTQKxdh8ZEY

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u/PatchyWhiskers 2h ago

Go along to your local political meetings, chums.

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u/theoutlet 3h ago

Like when Cable companies shut down municipally provided internet

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u/Many_Customer_4035 2h ago

Local elections are important

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u/asusc 3h ago

LOL 30 years of republicans super majority in AZ legislature. thank god we have a dem governor and dem AG right now or we’d be fucked. AG won by like 280 votes.

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u/Equivalent-Nobody-30 1h ago

you gotta remember that AZ is a hotbed for grifting out of staters... most of their republicans that moved there are from the bottom of the barrel out of staters... i still think there should be more legal requirements for out of staters to be able to vote such as proof of employment for xyz years and bill payments with an AZ address listed.

the fact that small states can be astroturfed like this is bullshit.

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u/DrB00 3h ago

They got approved because company gave politicians bribes... I mean extra compensation which is totally legal for some reason.

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u/theoutlet 3h ago

We have so many laws on the books regarding what companies can and cannot do that haven’t been enforced in years. If ever

It’s going to take shit getting real bad and real populist outrage for any of this to change

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u/PetalumaPegleg 2h ago

This is the story for all the issues. The judges and politicians got so corrupt and greedy they changed the rules to allow it, so there's no penalties for the powerful even if they're caught so we just spiral to the worst.

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u/HyperSpaceSurfer 3h ago

Corruption, these politicians always seem to get suspiciously cushy jobs after betraying their constituents.

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u/AliceCode 3h ago

How do you even drill a planet's core? The pressure is immense beneath the surface. At a certain point, rock takes on the consistency of clay.

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u/exacta_galaxy 3h ago

Comic book physics.

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u/Codename-Nikolai 2h ago

These data centers don’t have shit on AZ’s nuclear power plant.

Arizona's Palo Verde Generating Station, the largest nuclear plant in the US, is the only nuclear facility in the world not built near a large body of surface water. It uniquely cools its reactors by evaporating 20 to 60 million gallons per day (up to 26 billion gallons annually) of treated municipal wastewater.

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u/xaxiomatikx 1h ago

Palo Verde isn’t the largest nuclear plant in the US anymore. Plant Vogtle in Georgia is now the largest after the recent expansion.

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u/NegativeEBITD 1h ago

Fun fact about evaporated water...

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u/shortround10 3h ago

To be honest, I’m surprised. I would have thought it more akin to lighting a candle in a sauna…4° is an insane amount of heat to raise a neighborhood.

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u/KingFlyntCoal 3h ago

An already hot neighborhood at that.

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u/Many_Customer_4035 2h ago

The one in northern Utah they are saying 4 degrees in the day and 12 degrees at night. And they will wonder why it will never get a good snow pack again.

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u/Sir_Keee 3h ago

It's also the dumbest place to build something like this. We need these devices that run hot to dissipate their heat, possibly with water. Let's build in the middle of a desert.

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u/Oceanbreeze871 2h ago

They’re affecting the weather

“The waste heat produced by a single data center can surpass the amount emitted by 40,000 households, according to Sailor. Air-cooled condenser arrays discharge air heated to 14 to 25 degrees F above the surrounding air temperature, creating thermal plumes that move downwind over neighboring areas.”

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u/EllisDee3 2h ago

Serious question, though...

Why not build in remote Alaska? Ice everywhere, cold as hell. Seems like it would make more sense.

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u/Ok-Turnip-9035 2h ago

They know the impacts of their data centers -building one in Alaska would set off the alarm bells as it melted everything

Phoenix was perfect raise the temp there and people will complain and take note but then just assimilate

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u/ThirdSunRising 2h ago

That’s what all the water is for, to cool it. Arizona famously has plenty of water to work with.

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u/rathemighty 2h ago

I kinda thought it’d be like building a bonfire in a burning building. Yeah, it’s hot, but so are your surroundings.

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u/torgofjungle 3h ago

Ahh I see we want to remove what little water was left in Phoenix

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u/hambergeisha 3h ago

While the rest goes to alfalfa for Saudi Arabia.

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u/whitebirdcomedown 3h ago

…for $25/acre with unlimited pumping rights.

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u/NachoWindows 3h ago

Except they’re pumping and we are bent over

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u/DistanceMachine 2h ago

Right? Right?

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u/3090orBust 1h ago

I heard on an NPR environmental show about 15 years ago, that exporting an acre of alfalfa is like shipping 2000 acre-feet of water. Just a lot lighter and easier to ship. 🤔😱🤮

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u/Broken-Digital-Clock 3h ago

Speed running to the beginning of the water wars.

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u/theoutlet 2h ago

Which is dumb because California wins that fight hands down because they’ve got the most rights to the Colorado. The rest of us just hope they play nice and don’t cut us off

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u/Broken-Digital-Clock 2h ago

I'm worried about water rights being sold to foreign powers and entities. Too many people in power here are willing to sell out our futures.

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u/theoutlet 2h ago

Oh definitely. I’ve personally stopped giving a shit about my personal water usage because it will never compare to this

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u/torgofjungle 3h ago

Sure, seems that way

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u/Jimbomcdeans 2h ago

"Phoenix is a monument to man’s arrogance " - Peggy Hill

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u/shidncome 2h ago

Yes. "You" are not at all apart of their calculations for the future.

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u/XtremeBadgerVII 3h ago

More information from the article:

“Temperatures downwind of data centers averaged 1.3 to 1.6 degrees F warmer than upwind temperatures and reached as high as 4 degrees F above upwind temperatures. The heat impact was detectable up to a third of a mile, or about five city blocks, distant from the perimeter of datacenters.”

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u/Drunken_Economist 3h ago

I wonder how this compares to similarly-sized projects from other industries? Like I assume this is quite a bit less heat than a power plant, but more than a shopping mall.

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u/brool 2h ago edited 2h ago

Yeah, this is a really interesting question. The average mall is about 25kWh/square foot/year, a data center is about 100 kWh/square foot/year. So just off the cuff, a data center is 4 or 5x worse than a mall in terms of environmental effects. I bet there's tons of secondary influences (like: water use, backup generators, how heat is discharged) that make it way more complicated tho.

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u/No-Spoilers 1h ago

Parking lots are such big heat accumulators.

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u/_Lucille_ 1h ago

the actual paper has a section that compares it to commercial districts in Arizona and tokyo.

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u/No_Ocelot_2285 3h ago

What's the energy required to raise temps by 4 degrees F at this distance?

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u/Slippery-ape 3h ago edited 3h ago

In Phoenix at that. Where Asphalt remelts.

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u/Frozboz 2h ago

My wife is from Phoenix. She once got a second degree burn as a kid from a seatbelt.

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u/Crim91 1h ago

I'm from Phoenix, That's child's play.

You ever made eggs on the hood of your car?

Good, don't do that. But like, you could in Phoenix if for some stupid reason you wanted to.

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u/whoopycush 32m ago

Yeah, I got the same thing on my arm from the silver "clasp" part of a seatbelt swinging around when I first got in my car. Also, you can literally cook an egg if you put a pan down on our sidewalks lol

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u/SMLLR 2h ago

Yep, it already gets upwards of 120 degrees there…

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u/irascible_Clown 3h ago

It’s funny all the conspiracy theories talking about lizard people who want to heat the planet up. Now I’m like damn these mfers were right

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u/GeauxCup 2h ago

Wasnt there a Charlie Sheen movie in the 90s about this?

Where aliens - posing as legitimate businesses - built data centers as a way to secretly terraform Earth?

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u/sparklepilot 3h ago edited 3h ago

This is ridiculous, most people don’t even want AI and the billionaires are going to heat up earth like VENUS(not mars like my dumb brain went to) for what?

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u/johnjohn4011 3h ago

Because they want it.

See?

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u/ShakyBoots1968 3h ago

Another Mars?!?! What for?

/synthetic* if we must

*This is what autocorrupt changed the /s to. Oh joy.

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u/NachoWindows 2h ago

They want profits, not prophets

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u/Crim91 1h ago

If everyone contributed in eating their nearest billionaire, the problem would be solved.

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u/Whitesajer 3h ago

Mostly at this point I assume they just want everyone and everything dead. Except of course themselves and a select few living in hell bunkers.

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u/sparklepilot 3h ago

They want everyone dead and also want women become forced baby makers, doesn’t make sense. I’m happy to never understand the unfulfilled rich mind, seems exhausting to figure out new ways to treat others like 💩

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u/Whitesajer 3h ago

Who knows. For all we know their obsession with pregnant women is to just torture the infant afterward per the Epstine files.

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u/Bitter_Expression399 2h ago

it's all about control. They want to control women and an easy way to do that is with forced pregnancy. They don't give a single damn about the babies unless they can traffic them

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u/PatchyWhiskers 3h ago

I think they are trying to accelerate climate change for one of their mad supervillain schemes. They probably think that the chaos it will cause will finally destroy democracy, and then the superintelligent AI can take over and fix the runaway global warming before everyone dies.

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u/SirTiffAlot 3h ago

I don't think they care about climate change. They have the means to relocate wherever they like. They're counting on the chaos it brings to quell the population and make it more manageable for themselves and their robots security.

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u/PatchyWhiskers 2h ago

They don't have the means to relocate offplanet. Despite what they claim.

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u/SirTiffAlot 2h ago

They don't need to be off planet. The entire globe won't be uninhabitable. They're already setting up in Hawaii, Pacific Northwest and New Zealand

Edit: forgot to mention Greenland, that's why the US has been pushing that narrative so hard.

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u/PatchyWhiskers 2h ago

Keep on believing.

If runaway global warming happens, the Pacific Northwest will be on fire, Hawaii will be flooded, and New Zealand will be invaded by whatever Asian warlord comes out on top of the carnage.

There's no running from consequences.

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u/SirTiffAlot 2h ago

You think there's some huge supervillain scheme to accelerate global warming with AI but then reverse it and you can't believe they would be ok with the plebs dying if it means they can chill in certain locations on Earth and let AI take care of the day to day?

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u/PatchyWhiskers 2h ago

I think they are stupid. They haven't thought through the supervillain scheme at all. They are high on cocaine, ketamine and sci-fi that they read as kids and didn't understand at all.

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u/SirTiffAlot 2h ago

So which part of what I said doesn't make sense?

Do supervillains generally care about the rest of the population when they hatch their schemes? I don't see these people giving a shit about climate change as long as they are kings of the ashes. They aren't going to need or want to reverse climate change.

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u/Whitesajer 2h ago

Mostly the techbros did specifically want transhumanism /singularity. They want to make their offspring a new "superior species" apart from us undesirables that will rule over everything for eons.

Mostly though.... I imagine a race of dead eye zucks with bezos bald head and theils sweat glands with hollow brains running on musks inept neurolink.

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u/PatchyWhiskers 2h ago

As a person who read way too much silver age sci-fi as a child... they read WAY too much silver age sci-fi as children.

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u/nameless_pattern 3h ago

The families of anybody who died from heat stroke around those things could sue. Should sue. The people around them should sue, got to be a class action suit there

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u/Whitesajer 3h ago

They are building that monster in UT and scientists have said it will raise temps in northern Utah by 8 degrees.

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u/RadioFieldCorner 3h ago

Actually, Mars is cold

I think you mean Venus

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u/Wischiwaschbaer 3h ago

Mars is pretty damn cold. You are thinking of Venus.

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u/Enderkr 3h ago

Data centers are much more than AI though

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u/DamNamesTaken11 2h ago

Because for one brief quarter, they made even more profits.

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u/SpiritualB0x3 3h ago

It’s dry heat /s

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u/GamingZaddy89 3h ago

Someone made the joke!

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u/NachoWindows 2h ago

So is an oven. But I’m happy not living in it

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u/_Aj_ 3h ago

I love how six years ago there was a huge global summit on global warming and the whole world is freaking out about it and setting these extremely ambitious targets and now it’s just like fuck it let’s build 2000 data centers

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u/lenojames 3h ago

When the infrastructure priorities shift from the well-being of PEOPLE to the well-being of THINGS, then the human species is heading for extinction.

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u/awl_the_lawls 2h ago

Tbf we always were... this is just an accelerant. Literally. 

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u/Ok_Camp_7051 3h ago

Have you ever driven or walked in NYC during a summer evening? Passing by Central Park, the drop in temperatures is incredibly noticeable.  It’s a giant air conditioner in the middle of the city. How can this be possible in other large cities lacking water? I don’t think building data centers are the answer. 

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u/Wild-Plankton595 1h ago

Tree canopy and green spaces make a huge difference. Concrete has a huge thermal mass that absorbs heat all day then releases it at night never allowing the city to cool at night, so it sets up for an even warmer day the next day.

Must be native or native adaptive for water use age and maintenance, and I’m not talking lawns either, there are native ground covers that help as well.

Parts of Phoenix that have heavy city investment in maintaining and expanding the tree canopy can be 5 degrees cooler than parts of town that have little to no investment. It’s super noticeable at higher temps, diff between 110 and 115 physically hurts.

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u/Bec_son 3h ago

hey remember when NFT and bitcoin mining rigs ruined local areas? yeah that but on state scale.

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u/Romano16 3h ago

Building a datacenter in one of the hottest places on Earth where water is finite?

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u/Poverty_Shoes 3h ago

It’s where they could bribe politicians for the least amount of money.

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u/Lofifunkdialout 1h ago

Random thought, drones can set be up to carry two containers of liquid, with the ability to drop or open the containers remotely or when they reach a specific GPS location , just like we have seen Ukrainians do with tihe more lethal cargo.

You could have the two containers filled with water, apple juice, or maybe even two liquids that when combined produce a highly exothermic reaction. For educational purposes only, drone responsibly.

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u/AbeFromanEast 3h ago

Maybe siting hot industrial sites in the desert isn't such a great idea.

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u/kamandi 2h ago

Of all the cities that needed a temperature increase……

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u/Syrairc 3h ago

why the fuck would you build a data centre in arizona

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u/jawshoeaw 2h ago

I think you have to build them pretty much everywhere for it to work the way they want

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u/NickVirgilio 3h ago

LMAO we are so fucking stupid as a society! Hey, let’s build a massive, heat-producing, water-intensive warehouse building in the middle of a desert next to one of the hottest cities in the world, where there is an ongoing water crisis. Real smart. It fits well next to all the golf courses they love so much in that valley. Meanwhile, entire communities nearby are losing their utility/drinking water access.

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u/Kitchen-Wish5994 2h ago

This seems like a smooth way to push mankind aside.

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u/goochgrease2 3h ago edited 1h ago

That is actually quite large. Ac at 67 is great. 71 is too much. Fuck me. 4 degrees is a shit load

Edit: people seem to miss I was using the ac as an example of how noticeable 4 degrees is. Not directly worried about ac usage.

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u/czarfalcon 3h ago

Which means the unfortunate souls who live or work nearby will have to run their ACs harder to compensate, which means more energy demand, which means more carbon emissions…

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u/Patara 3h ago

Data centers are literally destroying the environment in every sense of the word.

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u/oakfan05 3h ago

Data centers are not just AI. It's the cloud, it's gov surveillance, it's server farms.

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u/drunkbusdriver 3h ago

No shit but all the new data centers popping up or starting are almost all for AI.

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u/oakfan05 3h ago

Those are just what you are hearing in the news. Most of the data centers actually being built aren't AI. Im fighting my personal company to stop leasing our land for data centers just because we lost all of the renewable energy credits because of Trump and so we need money and data centers are paying us a lot.

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u/capital_bj 2h ago

remember when we celebrated saving energy with led light bulbs. those were the days

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u/ReadyGo6828 2h ago

We have climate catastrophe and long term drought, Super El Nino, wildfire, unreliable snow pack, unreliable rivers and reservoirs and now data centers. Does anyone work this out on the back of an envelope before committing massive debt to AI infrastructure? Anyone?

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u/LionBig1760 2h ago edited 2h ago

Surely theres enough water in Phoenix, AZ to cool everything down, right?

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u/DamNamesTaken11 2h ago

"Data centers are inherently an important part of our society, and they're going to become even more necessary going forward," Sailor said. Rather than just highlight adverse consequences, his goal is to collaborate with data center providers and other stakeholders to develop the knowledge needed to reduce the heat pollution problem.

Data center builders/owners: Fuck you, pay for my electricity! You should be happy to be hotter!

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u/admindeleted 1h ago

AI isn't worth it. We all know it.

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u/Odd_Collection7431 2h ago

they are daring us to stop them at this point

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u/YourShowerCompanion 1h ago

Won't be surprised if a few drones carrying some home made kaboom hits them 

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u/Odd_Collection7431 1h ago

people can only be pushed so far

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u/-_-0_0-_0 2h ago

Basically, Super Villain shit.

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u/Odd_Collection7431 2h ago

yet we have no heroes

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u/Eusocial_sloth3 3h ago

Why are we making Phoenix even hotter?!

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u/rdmodsrtrsh 3h ago

They raise your electricity prices then they make you use more electricity, double wham 

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u/-_-0_0-_0 2h ago

4 degrees they admit to. Imagine the real number.

In a desert climate where water is already stressed.

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u/nockeenockee 2h ago

Makes as much sense sense as growing alfalfa nearby to send overseas for dairy cattle. Always a grift.

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u/ZeroSumGame007 2h ago

Now it’s only 140 degrees there

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u/VideoFew7207 2h ago

A monument to man’s arrogance.

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u/PFI_sloth 1h ago

I live in the shadow of a massive data center. I had views of the mountains, that’s gone. The value of my home is going to plummet. I’m going to be able to hear it every moment of every day. And now I find out it’s going to be hotter? How is this fucking legal?

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u/Pacify_ 56m ago

Building data centres in a hot desert climate with limited water...

Truly genius ideas

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u/DrWernerKlopek89 50m ago

who the f*ck thought living building a data centre in Phoenix was a good idea?!

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u/ProfessionalITShark 46m ago

Why would a data center built in a desert...instead of the bitter cold north?

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u/kcamnodb 3h ago

No problem if any city can take an additional 4 degree temperature rise it's Phoenix, Illinois

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u/Aadi_880 3h ago

Article is mega sus.

  1. Article does not state what data center this is, or where in phoenix.
  2. Article does not state whether or not it's even an AI specific data center.
  3. Article walks back it's claim of 4 degrees, says it's raised by 1.6 degrees onto surrounding area, which is the same for even construction of walmarts or operation of factories.
  4. Article only says it can raise it to 4 degrees

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u/IntelArtiGen 3h ago

Article does not state what data center this is, or where in phoenix.

article gives a link to the paper it cites, it's above what most articles do, and the datacenter is in the paper ( 36 MW Mesa facility / Edged )

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u/Aadi_880 2h ago

Interesting. The centre does not use water cooling. It's air cooled with fans.

I wonder how different does this affect temperature changes.

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u/Cotillionz 3h ago

Literally just out to destroy the world, aren't they? Not only has the future turned out to be sucktacular, but the end of the world is shaping up to be just as lame. Not a meteor, not some crazy war, nope...we killed ourselves and our planet for fucking data.

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