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Most Canadians in New Poll Worried Al Data Centres Will Raise Power Bills, Harm Environment (www.theenergymix.com)

submitted 2 days ago by Sunshine@piefed.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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A Leger poll of 1,505 Canadians found 81% worry Al data centres will raise electricity bills and 79% fear environmental harm, while opinion is split on building them domestically for data sovereignty.

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[-] dasrael@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Can at least spell centre correctly... show some pride.

[-] OldCrow@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Wikipedia doesn’t have a lot of info. Chatgpt rundown: A single large AI data center can use millions of litres of water per day for cooling during hot weather. Some facilities use little or no water if they rely primarily on air cooling instead. Training a large AI model may indirectly consume millions of litres of water over the course of training. This includes water used directly for cooling servers and indirectly at power plants that generate the electricity used. There’s more, but also: Electricity generation: In many regions, power plants also use water for cooling, so electricity consumption can add to water use indirectly. THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY TRUMP WANTS CANADA: No 4 of most water in the world. AND WHY TRUMP BACKED JAIR BOLSONARO, THE FASCIST PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL: No 1 most water in the world. Also, Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his involvement in a coup attempt that sought to undermine Brazil’s democratic institutions. VIVA Brazil!!!

[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

I wonder if water / cooling is less of an issue in Canada.

[-] Tyrq@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago

It probably is, until it isn't

[-] AGM@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

The issue is the rush to build driving acceptance of designs that are wasteful. Building for efficiency is the real solution, but that takes time none of the people putting money into this want to spend waiting for things to be done right. Same reason you won't see them being built in the far North; existing access to energy and data transmission infrastructure and available labour to get things done in a hurry are what wins out.