Hey man, I agree with AI, progress, Green can't do it all, and clean can't get here tomorrow (takes much longer to build Hydrogen and Nuclear power) and this is a race. And these DCs can be steps towards revitalizing rural, depressed areas for sure.
That said...
- Suddenly slapping together gas turbine powered DCs in droves and all the over place should be done carefully - That's a lot methane gas going into the air
- I'm only specifically calling out Musk because in that case, he slammed through the DC (and now is working on Colossul 2) without investing much in the community and overstepping his permitting for the number of gas generators, and still wonder if he'll be there for the long haul
- In general, strain on the grid and water supply, of course along with volume of emissions, and anything to help reduce this volume should also be considered in a partnership between community and hyperscaler / AI tech company
- Again, in the scheme of things, I'm not seeing a ton of business benefit, even Zuckerberg's LA monster DC will employ only 500 employees at its peak and that may generate some local businesses in support, but how much? Compare this to ExxonMobil establishing its own company town in Spring TX where its HQ employs 10K employees - Big difference
--- For every direct job during the Oil and Gas Extraction/Operations phase, 2.3 total jobs were created throughout the economy
--- Local Spending: The project involved significant investment in the area, including local spending with businesses, including minority- and women-owned, and small businesses. For instance, they spent nearly $90 million with small businesses, $24.9 million with women-owned businesses, and $22.3 million with minority-owned businesses
--- Spring, Texas has a 2025 population of 66,338, growing at 1.23% annually. The median age is 33.6, with 43.52% White and 23.31% Black residents
- When tax incentives are taken into account along with new tax revenues, this equation doesn't always majorly benefit these DC regions in this area
And my biggest concern is the potential for people like Musk in cahoots with short-sighted local leaders who do something stupid and dangerous to these communities - Like maybe helping to exacerbate floods, or at least to ensure the response is slow and minimal in order to wipe out residents and their homes so as to minimize community resistance and their questioning the details (i.e., the gas emissions, what are the benefits to the community, etc.) - Again, I would not hold it past a terrible and arrogant human being called Elon Musk, to do something like this in the name of HIS AI progress and domination.
