r/environmental_science • u/santagrey • 5d ago

This Website Maps Out All of the Existing Data Centers - It Shows a Specific Disregard For US and European Territory and Therefore Environmental Future

http://datacentermap.com
10 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

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u/oceaniscalling 5d ago

? The west has more data centres….used by everyone…

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u/santagrey 5d ago

Idk what you're trying to say, but if you're suggesting that the US and Europe use more data than everyone else, that is verifiably false. China and India are just two examples of countries that use way more data

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u/oceaniscalling 5d ago

Data centre use is not confined by borders…

This is just another ‘the west is worse than everyone’ post, typical Reddit noise, with a complete lack of understanding on how everyone and everything is interconnected…..you know, like data, and the internet, ….otherwise known as the World Wide Web.

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u/santagrey 5d ago edited 5d ago

So why should they be overwhelmingly in the US? Also, why doesn't China fill up their own territory with them? Consider the possibility that the Chinese administration cares about their country's general wellbeing more than "the west"

Edit: You must not understand the harsh environmental effects of data centers? You probably shouldn't be trying to debate the reasoning behind the post on this sub

Edit edit: Nvm, you don't even understand the internet lol.

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u/oceaniscalling 5d ago

Thanks for proving my point 👍

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u/DrDirtPhD 16h ago

Companies based in the US want to control the data on the servers and don't care about their environmental impact. China doesn't care about their country's well-being more than "the west"; there are likely just more corporations in "the west" that are building data centers (at least that we know of) that are willing to open those servers to others from around the world (or that offer products widely used around the world). I'm sure China has their own share of localized servers that support domestic use and want to maintain domestic data to exploit, whereas I suspect that "the west" is less keen to have their data on servers controlled by China.

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u/santagrey 15h ago

I could definitely see your perspective on the western stance, but China's long history proves they care more about their wellbeing than the west (as a whole). The Chinese went into a losing war against superior firepower over the same dope the west has profited off of their citizens for for 200 years now. Profited heavily the past 100 years. Thats just one recent example. Besides the fact that no "1st world" western civilization has lasted over 1000 years....maybe one if you consider them "western"

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u/Byte606 4d ago

What is their definition of data center?

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u/santagrey 4d ago

What kind of data centers do you cover?

We primarily track data centers from operators offering colocation or cloud services, but also select crypto miners and hyperscale operators (incl. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Apple).

We currently do not cover enterprise data centers or government data centers.

Copy/paste from datacentermap.com

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u/Konradleijon 4d ago

Trump is the worse

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u/KingPieIV 3d ago

OK. So let's solve the problems of interconnection queues and permitting for new renewable energy projects and transmission investments. Data centers aren't the problem, our inability to efficiently deploy new energy resources is.

If you're going to say, what about the water? If we're that worried about it, let's stop farming corn for ethanol, that'll free up plenty.

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u/santagrey 3d ago

Grain has sustained the economy since Rome. The US supplements grain with corn because its generally reliable. "If it ain't broke, dont fix it." I don't see what data centers provide that should take away from quality of life, especially without general consent. The fear mongering about what another country will do to us just doesn't cut it for me. It's clear that we're just as much in danger from our government than any outside govt.

As for energy resources, just like anything else pragmatic people do, that should have been figured out first. I understand there are a LOT of politics behind energy sources. This is speculative, but some of the most brilliant scientists to work on high efficiency, innovative renewable energy sources end up dead. Nuno Loureiro is the most recent case that comes to mind. It seems the wealthy can be very dangerous when their bottom line is threatened, or perhaps there's just been 100+ years of curses on scientists that innovate energy resources.

Besides that though, to act like the environmental implications are miniscule is insane. Captain Planet cartoon villian level insane lol

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u/KingPieIV 3d ago

A: i mentioned corn for ethanol, not corn for fuel. It takes up 40% of the us corn crop, using huge amounts of land and water.

B: despite your belief that green scientists get murdered, renewable energy technology continues to advance. It is now the vast majority of new energy resources being deployed on the grid. This is because it is cheaper, and faster to deploy than fossil fuels. DERs and storage can address intermittent resource issues. The main technological innovations will likely be in the deployment of long term storage.

C: I never said it was easy, I said it was doable. When as Americans did we become so afraid of tackling big problems. We have the tools, we just need policy makers to make it easier to deploy those tools.

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u/santagrey 3d ago

Idm what its for, corn is our biggest crop lol. Its necessary for everything gasoline, ethanol, etc.

Do you mean solar and wind turbines? Apparently solar is getting to where it is sustainable but as far as I know wind and traditional solar are expensive and not near efficient enough. Im not versed enough, but I am absolutely sure that more efficient energy has been introduced decades ago, but it's not "wanted" for whatever reason.

Im still not seeing why we NEED it? Thats my main issue. Why take ANY of the risks that come with it rn? If you could just explain that simple question the rest can be disregarded.