Manjushri

@Manjushri@piefed.social · Joined ⁨Sep⁩ ⁨2025⁩

Replying to an earlier post

I concede that my grasp of the scale involved was unrealistic. However, I don’t see a viable solution. The issue, I have realized, isn’t how to generate the power, it’s the scale of power needed to run these data center monstrosities.

As you say, 7.65 gigawatts is a lot of power. According to ERCOT, Texas just set a new record for power demand in July of 91gw. So this plant, built to supply this one data center complex, will produce power equal to 8.5% as much power as the entire state of Texas required at peak demand this year (so far, anyway). 8.5% of peak demand for the entire state of Texas which, by the way, is the largest energy consuming state. Texas uses about 15% of the total power generated in the entire USA according to EAI.gov.

So if solar and wind (with batteries, of course) would be very challenging, it is at least vaguely possible. Texas is a great state for wind, solar, and geothermal power. It already generates about 30% of it’s power from renewables. Texas has a lot of sunny days and a lot of open spaces for wind farms particularly in the western parts of the state. I can think of worse ideas than covering all those oil fields with solar panels or wind farms. You wouldn’t even need to stop producing oil. You can do both.

Nuclear really isn’t viable. Starting the approval process now, it would easily be 20 years before a new plant would start producing power. No one is waiting two decades to open their data center.

The only other option to power these data centers, the one they are going with, is fossil fuels. That means multiplying the amount of toxic and greenhouse gasses being pumped into our air which is the absolute worst option for everyone on the planet.

Replying to an earlier post

You’re not wrong. One of the newest reactors to come on line is reactor 3 at Plant Vogtle in GA. After as much as 5 years for the approval process, the reactor broke ground in 2009 and didn’t start producing power until 2023. That’s just shy of 2 decades from start to finish. As much as my wind and solar idea is flawed, nuclear is as much of a non-starter. These folks may want to open their data center a little sooner than 2045.

Replying to an earlier post

Utilities should, of course, be priced at the cost to generate, maintain, and distribute the resource. But this is America, home of rampant capitalism. Thus, profit is king. That means utility prices depend on supply and demand.

Data centers use so much power that it creates a resource scarcity. So the utility company raises the price per unit that electricity is sold for in those markets.

Everyone’s bill goes up when data centers are allowed in and shareholder profits skyrocket. Since the shareholders are happy, the powers that be are usually unwilling to address the problem as it is only the peons suffering.

It’s actuality a little surprising that the government is trying to address the problem in this case.

Replying to an earlier post

but what if I really like the independent treasurer running but also recognize the importance of unseating the republicans in current power and want democratic nominees for everything else?

Well, I’d suggest voting in the democratic primary and selecting a bad candidate for the treasurer and the good candidates for the other offices. If you’re lucky, others will vote the same way in the primary and the bad treasurer candidate you voted for will appear on the general election ballot along with the good democratic candidates for all the other offices.

This means that your preferred independent candidate would have a better chance of winning the office when the general election rolls around as will your preferred candidates for the other offices.

Replying to an earlier post

On supported vehicles, starting the car brings up a banner on the Control Display, and tapping it launches a full-screen Spider-Man animation with music and ambient lighting effects. BMW says the feature is available on suitably equipped cars built after July 2020 and running BMW Operating System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or X.

Ah, I see. It’s a feature! I’m surprised they’re not trying to charge a subscription fee to get ads on your dashboard.

Replying to an earlier post

Okay… how do you stop the object from radiating its own heat? Sure, you can bend the IR light around your object, that’s cool. But if your object is a human or machine form that is radiating its own heat it doesn’t really matter, does it? Unless you manage to reflect all that radiated heat back in. Of course doing that would probably rapidly cook whatever it is you’re trying to hide.

Replying to an earlier post

Probably?

In the video, editor-in-chief Steve Burke said that the publication paid $1,200 for an LG UltraGear 3GX900A-B gaming monitor (the monitor’s price dropped to $600 two days later, Burke said) for testing and replicated the behavior “several times” across “multiple” Windows 11 systems.

After LG Monitor App Installer was installed, a pop-up appeared on the screen’s lower-right corner “on every single boot,” Burke said. Most of the time, the pop-up was a McAfee ad. The publication also reported seeing ads for LG Switch, LG Calibration Studio, LG Dual Controller, and LG Channels on rare occasions.

That right there is enough for me to never buy LG again. $1200 monitor that forces adware on your system without ever even asking to install it? Then there’s this…

Once the app is installed, “LG technically possesses permission to use ‘all system resources,’” as well as to “collect geolocation, device data, online activity, contacts, user credentials, transactions, and more,” Burke said.

Yeah, fuck them. Never again.