Let's be honest. There is a way to safely build data centers. Sensible laws could be made for them to build enough solar so they can power themselves or they are responsible for the cost of increasing capacity. Things like environmental impact and pollution need to be taken into account. However, since this is America, that won't happen. So companies will build these data centers in red states with little to no regulation and those people will pay for the increase in power capacity, the environmental and public health damages, etc...

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newaccountman2 an hour ago | parent [-]

> So companies will build these data centers in red states with little to no regulation and those people will pay for the increase in power capacity, the environmental and public health damages, etc...

Good. People in red state have been voting to shit on the environment for longer than I have been alive, and they can have all the data centers.

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afavour an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> People in red state have been voting to shit on the environment for longer than I have been alive,

Red states still have a significant population that don't vote Republican and they're more often than not the ones who bear the brunt of negatives like data center construction.

	▲	freejazz an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah! It really sucks. Still, what should NY do of that?

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buellerbueller an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I live in a red state; my electricity bill went up 40% (flat rate annual billing), but my consumption only went up 10%. Local newspaper reports that this is because of data centers.

I typically don't vote for Republicans, and I typically do vote for environmental protection. However, my state is heavily gerrymandered by the Republican supermajority here.

So, I don't really have a choice.

Also, go fuck yourself for being so glib about an entire state's population and wishing them ill.

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richwater an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Grid upgrades would have to happen no matter what. Data centers are just the catalyst and boogeyman at the moment.

This utopia that everyone has about electric cars will never come to fruition without grid upgrades.

This country has systematically underinvested and underdeveloped the electric grid for 50 years and now we are paying the price. It is a government failing.

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nekusar 39 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The real question is "why do rates go up with a data center?"

That answer is interesting. Its cause in most states, if a company formally requests a power hookup, the power company MUST comply. Thus entails in upgrading substations, transformers, supply lines, etc. And all those upgrades are borne by the citizens in that region.

That's why you bill goes up, cause datacenter upgrades dump on the public their externalities.

In some states like Indiana, the governor is already talking about changing that law requiring data centers to pay for upgrades.

	▲	coryrc a minute ago \| parent [-]
		Every place I'm familiar with has demand charges on large-scale users that is supposed to pay for that equipment. The real problem is boomers have stopped allowing things to be built efficiently, so supply is limited, had been limited for decades, and demand still grows, so prices spike disproportionally with demand increases. Additionally we subsidize wind and solar heavily, but the fixed costs of large plants don't drop, so we end up spending for our power twice and for natural gas plants to replace coal, because that's the only solution we will do to keep power during the winter in Northern states.

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newaccountman2 31 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

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