Your post doesn't have a reply link for some reasons but here is my response. What they need is expertise in energy generation. They need to understand concepts like a duck curve, power storage and its material requirements, relative EROEI of various power generation sources and a basic understanding of when newer forms of generation are likely to be ready. For instance, they should understand that renewables need to be well sited. They need to understand that the solar albino of Ireland is (far) too low for solar PV to be effective. Things of this nature. Engineering things around energy generation and the physics of how a grid works. If you don't understand these things, you are throwing darts at a dart board when you try to provide analysis of various types of industrial infrastructure.

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defrost an hour ago | parent [-]

So, you want a different article then.

This article reports that Irish data centres use a particular percentage of the countries power.

> What they need is expertise in energy generation.

Okay, so an actual Electrical Engineer with grid scale experience.

> They need to understand concepts like a duck curve, power storage and its material requirements, relative EROEI of various power generation sources and a basic understanding of when newer forms of generation are likely to be ready.

Many people with a STEM background understand these things .. they are not generally called "scientists" in Commonwealth English.

	▲	hunterpayne 35 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Also, I don't want a different article, I want one informed by someone who has a real understanding of these topics. For example, if a datacenter is in Washington state, fresh water (and its fresh water we care about here) isn't consumed. In Ireland, probably some is consumed. This is because of wind patterns and where water vapor will be carried to from the datacenter. If its carried over land, fresh water isn't consumed. If its carried over ocean, then it is. Stuff like this is why you actually need knowledge of the issue, and not just an understanding of datacenter cooling systems.
	▲	hunterpayne 42 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		"Many people with a STEM background understand these things .. they are not generally called "scientists" in Commonwealth English." Sure, but none of them work at the institution referenced by the article. That isn't what they do.