https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-staggering-ecological-impacts-of-computation-and-the-cloud/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Anu5E4jbnkI&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fthereader.mitpress.mit.edu%2F

Data centers are a vital, rapidly growing, and necessary resource in modern life. 

However, these data centers come with large environmental impacts.  When bringing a data center into a community we must ask, will the environmental risks outweigh the benefits. Are the companies bringing these data centers paying their fair and equitable share of these resources? Will energy and water costs for consumers go up with the increased demand for these resources?



A single data center can consume the equivalent electricity of 50,000 homes.

At 200 terawatt hours (TWh) annually, data centers collectively devour more energy than some nation-states.

Why do data centers demand so much energy? They must remain online 24/7. 

Often, only 6-12% of the energy consumption is for active computational processes. The majority of energy is for cooling the facilities and managing fail-safes to ensure it stays online.