I had incredibly dark dreams and did not sleep well, so many people I know have cancer, a fucking AI data center just got approved right near me, and one of the baby goat litters is not doing well.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

A couple of these things I can do nothing about. Some I can.

One I need help with from you: in a few days I'm giving a talk on the environmental consequences of AI data centres (with a focus on orbit, but starting with ground-based).

So, fediverse! Please send me your favourite statistic (with citation please) on exactly how bad AI data centres are for the environment. I'm looking for: comparisons on CO2 emissions per centre, water usage per slop-video made, stuff like that.

[mason@partychickens.net]

@sundogplanets I started off hoping you were describing your dreams, but then I realized you had bad dreams AND all those other things are happening. I'm sorry.

[john380@infosec.exchange]

@sundogplanets hope things improve!

[stevegis_ssg@mas.to]

@sundogplanets

Oh god I'm sorry.

You work so hard and do so much. The world could cut you some fucking slack already.

[grajohnt@chaos.social]

@sundogplanets ERCOT is (politely and wonkishly) ringing alarm bells in Texas. https://www.ercot.com/news/release/04152026-ercot-releases-preliminary

This graph is ludicrous. It shows the requests for power to all providers in ERCOT - the growth in the right bars is driven almost entirely by datacenters (particularly in DFW).

Yes, they're requesting Texas *triple* its power generation over the next six years.

[mayintoronto@beige.party]

@sundogplanets AI data centres create localized heat islands, with temperatures going up by several degrees.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.20897

News article: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ai-data-centers-significantly-heat-121626690.html

[marleenstikker@waag.social]

@sundogplanets https://restofworld.org/2026/global-ewaste-crisis/

[cwebber@social.coop]

@mayintoronto @sundogplanets They also make a constant humming/whirring noise https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-noise-pollution-concernsabout-data-centers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JflFFqbZ1X8

And there's a lot more you can find about the hardware side. I started my career by working in the first megadatacenters. I can tell you also that investment in hardware is not one-time. We don't think of it this way, but computers wear down the same way cars or anything else do, and these machines are being pushed to their limits, and the amount of e-waste for churning through parts is huge.

[cwebber@social.coop]

@mayintoronto @sundogplanets Not to mention that hardware gets outdated, machines get entirely replaced fairly regularly.

[michaelgemar@cosocial.ca]

@sundogplanets Rhetorically it’s interesting to start with the ground-based issues, as on-orbit proponents would presumably argue that they solve many of those problems (power, CO2, water).

Of course, they’re disastrous for other reasons…

[batsinlavender@hcommons.social]

@cwebber @mayintoronto @sundogplanets There's a good video on this from Benn Jordan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bP80DEAbuo. They're functioning not unlike acoustic weapons.

[handmade_ghost@sunny.garden]

@sundogplanets Here in Oregon: "Google built its first data center in The Dalles in 2006. In 2012, the tech giant used 12% of The Dalles water supply. By 2024, a third of The Dalles’ water went to Google’s three local data center sites."

More context and data here: https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/15/as-googles-water-demands-grow-the-dalles-aims-to-pull-more-from-mount-hood-forest/

[harriettmb@toot.wales]

@sundogplanets 🫂

[labspokane@mas.to]

@cwebber @mayintoronto @sundogplanets Exactly. We notice the power and the water demands first. But, data centers are basically the final destination of dozens of giant strip mines irreversibly gobbling up the earth to produce AI cat videos.

[labspokane@mas.to]

@sundogplanets I’m sorry and hope things and the goats get better.

[sylviafysica@scholar.social]

@sundogplanets I wrote an abstract on Assessing the Ecological Impact of AI; some of the sources in the bullet list may be helpful: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.21102

[zer0unplanned@friendica.rogueproject.org]

@sundogplanets If I had to tell each nightmare daily here I'd start a blog about it but bad things in dreams are good what you visioned and good is bad