Global warming appears to have shifted into a faster gear. After removing the effects of El Niño, volcanic eruptions, and solar cycles, researchers found that the planet has warmed at roughly 0.35°C per decade over the past ten years, compared with just under 0.2°C per decade from 1970 to 2015. The acceleration, which becomes visible around 2013 to 2015, appeared across five major global temperature datasets with more than 98% statistical certainty.
“AI data centers are ALSO bad” wasn’t your initial statement, and you know it.
And even if it was, that’s kind of beside the point. AI data centers are a relatively new (10 years) usage of the energy produced with the burning of hydrocarbons. The burning of hydrocarbons is the problem and has been for 150 years.
We can’t focus on the real problem if you insist on redirection of people’s ire towards your latest socio-political beef.
The rise of those centers did cause an insane increase. The energy and water used is insane. They contribute for a very large part. Cars are suddenly not that big of an issue anymore, compared to those data centers. Next to the energy and water usage, it’s also made from components which have an insane carbon footprint themselves.
Don’t underestimate those centers. We were alarmed by climate change, we discussed how we can reduce it, then built these centers making it early impossible to come back from, while the construction of these centers is far from done.