▲ 197 ▼ Amazon's New AI Data Center Is So Enormous That It Appears It Will Become the Largest Single Source of Pollution in the United States (futurism.com) submitted 1 month ago by GolfFoxtrotLima@ani.social to c/science@lemmy.world 8 comments fedilink hide all child comments cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50691454
[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (2 children) Why not just limit ai use to daylight hours? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 child) I'm not sure it's totally practical to pause large operations… but I mean, it's a good idea. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 1 child comment replies: [–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 3 points 1 month ago It’s a 100% reasonable proposition for sustainability, but since the economics of data centers evolved to assume 24-7 operation, reduction to only daylight hours would lose more than half the use, which easily consumes all expected ROI making even just the hardware investment unjustifiable. It would have to be a regulatory requirement that all companies must observe for the market to accommodate it. But it is 100% possible for every company in the chain to remain profitable without 24-7 operations. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 child) I'm not sure it's totally practical to pause large operations… but I mean, it's a good idea. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 1 child comment replies: [–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 3 points 1 month ago It’s a 100% reasonable proposition for sustainability, but since the economics of data centers evolved to assume 24-7 operation, reduction to only daylight hours would lose more than half the use, which easily consumes all expected ROI making even just the hardware investment unjustifiable. It would have to be a regulatory requirement that all companies must observe for the market to accommodate it. But it is 100% possible for every company in the chain to remain profitable without 24-7 operations. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 3 points 1 month ago It’s a 100% reasonable proposition for sustainability, but since the economics of data centers evolved to assume 24-7 operation, reduction to only daylight hours would lose more than half the use, which easily consumes all expected ROI making even just the hardware investment unjustifiable. It would have to be a regulatory requirement that all companies must observe for the market to accommodate it. But it is 100% possible for every company in the chain to remain profitable without 24-7 operations. permalink fedilink source parent