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County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to ‘Conserve Electricity’ (www.404media.co)
submitted 3 months ago* by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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On June 26, the County Manager of Henrico County, Virginia, John Vithoulkas, sent an email to thousands of county employees asking them to help the local government conserve electricity. “Beginning July 1st, the rate we pay for electricity used in all Henrico County government and school facilities will increase dramatically — by 25%, increasing costs by an estimated $5 million next fiscal year. We anticipate more rate increases for electricity in the years ahead,” a copy of the email obtained by 404 Media said (emphasis his).

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[–] 60 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Putting the accountability on SCHOOLS of all things is absurd. Even ignoring data centers, I can assure you there are other facilities that use more power than schools and provide less to the people

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  • [–] 26 points 3 months ago

    The local government doesn't pay for the data centers electricity though, at least not directly. This is their rate going up so they ask their public facilities to save energy. It's a reasonable response from them, but they should have prevented it by not allowing so many data centers.

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    • [–] 48 points 3 months ago (8 children)

    These data centers should be charged enough that there's no increase for anyone else in the area. They contribute nothing to the community. The only benefit that can be extracted from them locally is to charge and tax the absolute fuck out of the companies building them in every possible way.

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  • [–] 22 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    Contribute nothing to the community? Are you crazy? They use lots of water. They make a lot of noise. They are typically eyesores. That's a contribution.

    Of sorts.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Nah, they should be forced to stop operation until they build renewable power plans that produce 2x the energy that they consume in one day.

    They should benefit the community, not just be a net 0.

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