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On Monday, I'm recording a podcast with @ketanjoshi.co. He's going to present the strong version of THE CASE AGAINST (AI) DATA CENTERS. Tech company fuckery, discarded green pledges, the rush to gas, the empty promises that AI will help reduce emissions ... all of it. Got questions?

Kevin J. Kircher

@kevinjkircher.com

I sometimes hear data center supporters say they're good because we need them to stream Netflix or check weather apps. How do such conventional data centers compare in scale to modern AI data centers? How much of the current data center growth is to serve AI vs non-AI purposes?

24/10/26, 1:02 am1 repost5 likes

GreenEngineer

@eubanksengineeringresearch.com

One of the issues with AI data centers is apparently very rapidly fluctuating load. This seems like a readily solvable issue that is likely only a problem because the techbros can’t be arsed to do anything that slows things down one iota, but I dunno. I’d be interested to hear his perspective.

Kevin J. Kircher

@kevinjkircher.com

Related: Some people say the current surge in electricity demand growth comes only partly from data centers, and also comes from electric vehicles, heat pumps, induction stoves, and so on. How much of the current surge in electricity demand growth comes from those other things vs data centers?