cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/21370783
On Monday, Mayor Patrick Collins of Cheyenne, Wyoming, announced plans for an AI data center that would consume more electricity than all homes in the state combined, according to The Associated Press. The facility, a joint venture between energy infrastructure company Tallgrass and AI data center developer Crusoe, would start at 1.8 gigawatts and scale up to 10 gigawatts of power use.
The project’s energy demands are difficult to overstate for Wyoming, the least populous US state. The initial 1.8-gigawatt phase, consuming 15.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually, is more than five times the electricity used by every household in the state combined. That figure represents 91 percent of the 17.3 TWh currently consumed by all of Wyoming’s residential, commercial, and industrial sectors combined. At its full 10-gigawatt capacity, the proposed data center would consume 87.6 TWh of electricity annually—double the 43.2 TWh the entire state currently generates.
Because drawing this much power from the public grid is untenable, the project will rely on its own dedicated gas generation and renewable energy sources, according to Collins and company officials. However, this massive local demand for electricity—even if self-generated—represents a fundamental shift for a state that currently sends nearly 60 percent of its generated power to other states.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon praised the project’s potential benefits for the state’s natural gas industry in a company statement. “This is exciting news for Wyoming and for Wyoming natural gas producers,” Gordon said.
The proposed site for the new data center sits several miles south of Cheyenne near the Colorado border off US Route 85. While state and local regulators still need to approve the project, Collins expressed optimism about a quick start. “I believe their plans are to go sooner rather than later,” he said.
1.8 gigawatts
Damn… think of what you could do with that much energy! That’s enough to go back in time, shoot Sam Altam before he founds OpenAI, and make it back home with 600 megawatts to spare!
What the heck’s a jigawatt??!
You need 1.21 gigawatts to go one way, so you won’t be able to come back
Oh, right… Well, probably still worth it. This decade is balls anyways.
Nothing says you need to kill him right before he makes open AI, right? 90s here we come! (PTSD from shooting down a child be damned).
You can come back, you’d just have to take the slow way
Can we solve nuclear fusion first? Before we have rolling blackouts across the world so computers can draw fingers better
Modern nuclear fission already solves this issue fairly adequately. We’ve already developed numerous ways to minimize and use nuclear waste, including reusing it in various other forms and even reactor designs. The actual amount of waste that doesn’t have an alternate use is pretty small. We just haven’t really attempted it. Most currently operating nuclear plants date back to designs from the 60s and 70s.
Not to mention things like modern Advanced Geothermal systems. Some of those designs even involve reusing existing old oil drill sites, and the same workers because it’s the same type of drilling. Don’t even need large amounts of retraining. A major advantage of this is it’s also effectively limitless since you’re pulling heat out of the ground that’s generated from the sheer weight of the Earth above it.
Both of these technologies also have small ground footprints compared to their power output, especially compared to solar and wind farms.
effectively limitless
And it’s generated anyways, no matter if we pull some minuscle amount of it out or not. 47 terawatts all the time (according to wikipedia), or all the power we currently consume per year in about 150 days (assuming my quick math is even close). Of course we can’t (and probably shouldn’t) capture 100% of it, but there’s plenty of energy to at least shut down few coal ovens.
Conserve your A/C usage this summer, though.
This must be understood as purposefully setting up the conditions to rationalize systematic violence.
The AI is just a silly cartoon slapped on the face of a much older, simpler and more brutal strategy of gaining power, which is to magnify crisis so it can be exploited.
Reminds me that beautiful prediction
Journalists never disappoint when they report about science
from what I know bitcoin mining is a huge waste of resources and it’s still happening… Definitely not on that large of a scale but I honestly don’t mind exaggerating the shittiness of that tech in specific
Bitcoin mining makes money… unlike AI lol
AI is making a lot of money right now because of investment hype, bitcoin is valuable because it’s a giant pyramid scheme…
As I mentioned on the last post
Its going to ruin most states around it too, Wyoming is a massive net electricity exporter, due to cheap coal and wind resources. A majority of what they produce is transmitted to neighboring states, as far as Oregon and Washington.
Wait, why would Washington buy it? I thought the majority was hydro…
Majority, but not 100%. My point is Wyoming is a pretty supplier for electricity to most of the western grid interconnection system and taking multiple GW out of the export market so suddenly is gonna hurt the entire interconnects stability.
Unrelated this stuff can be used to shatter concrete or cinder blocks by drilling a few holes and dumping it inside followed by some water. Just in case anyone was curious.
Why isn’t humanity just pouring everything we have on achieving sustainable, clean energy? Can you imagine a world where you can prompt and mine without a care in the world, leave the lights on, charge your car for nothing? I really hope we can make fusion happen soon
The sun and wind provides all the energy we’ll ever need. As long as we can achieve a circular battery economy we are good, no fusion required.
To be fair, the Chinese are investing huge amounts into renewable energy.
I just drove through Wyoming and it’s a prime spot for wind turbines. Too bad it’s also prime for coal mining…
