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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He\u2019s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he\u2019s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-23/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jowi Morales Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
PEnns Great idea! Because many county officials are easily bought and sold. Reply
thisisaname PEnns said: Great idea! Because many county officials are easily bought and sold. Cheaper to buy too! Reply
bit_user There goes the farm land, with all the nice topsoil. Actually, I think the most nutrient-dense soil is near rivers, which is coincidentally where people like to build cities. But, after that, prairie is probably the next best, and probably also attractive for data centers, since it tends to be nice and flat. Reply
chaos215bar2 bit_user said: There goes the farm land, with all the nice topsoil. Actually, I think the most nutrient-dense soil is near rivers, which is coincidentally where people like to build cities. But, after that, prairie is probably the next best, and probably also attractive for data centers, since it tends to be nice and flat. The amount of land used is so small it's basically meaningless. Other concerns — power infrastructure, water use, noise, etc. are real. But the actual land area we're talking about is so vast there was a time when the government was literally giving it away if only people would move there and farm. A few data centers are not going to make any meaningful difference in food production. The land use angle is an emotional, but ultimately meaningless argument. (And it's weird how we never seem to hear that particular argument made about massive oil and natural gas fields being developed on otherwise farmable land.) Reply
bit_user chaos215bar2 said: The amount of land used is so small it's basically meaningless. Yes, an exaggeration. But, you probably think anywhere can be farmed, if only it has decent temperatures and rainfall. This is not so. Good topsoil is a depletable and dwindling resource. So, the specific siting does matter a little more than you suggest. chaos215bar2 said: But the actual land area we're talking about is so vast there was a time when … That was also a time when the world population was > 8 Billion. Yes, the "green revolution" crop yields, but one effect of that was to burn out topsoil even faster. chaos215bar2 said: it's weird how we never seem to hear that particular argument made about massive oil and natural gas fields being developed on otherwise farmable land.) This isn't an article about that, now is it? Reply
timsSOFTWARE I believe the real reason Trump was interested in Greenland was because of this. Most people don't really want datacenters or nuclear power plants located close to where they live. If you do some research into Praxis (https://www.praxisnation.com/) – a number of tech industry figures including Sam Altman have bought in – the founder tried to buy land in Greenland, but was rebuffed. Anything just security-related the US wouldn't need to own Greenland for. But if it was to become a future intelligence base/where the primary AI infrastructure was located, then they would. Reply
bill001g A lot of these seem to be going in on old coal mine sites that they used to run power generators. What they really want is the electrical connection to the grid. Most these have sat abandoned for years since they could not upgrade to meet clean air standards. I suspect the people living near it want all the old falling down building removed and something new there. Reply
bit_user @timsSOFTWARE , you should consider that if US companies just wanted to put datacenters in the far north, Alaska is plenty big enough! I can't go off-topic, but there are other reasons for the thing you discussed than either that you mentioned. Dig a little deeper. Reply
gdmaclew chaos215bar2 said: The amount of land used is so small it's basically meaningless. Other concerns — power infrastructure, water use, noise, etc. are real. But the actual land area we're talking about is so vast there was a time when the government was literally giving it away if only people would move there and farm. A few data centers are not going to make any meaningful difference in food production. The land use angle is an emotional, but ultimately meaningless argument. (And it's weird how we never seem to hear that particular argument made about massive oil and natural gas fields being developed on otherwise farmable land.) Or wind and solar farms. Reply
bit_user gdmaclew said: Or wind and solar farms. Those aren't mutually exclusive with farming. Wind has very little footprint on the ground, so a lot of farmers have indeed put in windmills as a supplemental income stream. Also, some crops like a bit of shade, and so you find that even when solar goes in, sometimes the land is still actively farmed. Solar is also a lot easier to remove and restore the land to how it was before, as compared to an entire datacenter or other industrial site. BTW, if you don't like wind and solar going into farmland, then you should hate datacenters. They just encourage more of it, via high electricity prices. Reply
Key considerations
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/ai-data-center-developers-target-rural-territory-to-bypass-city-construction-bans-and-regulations-rural-locations-allow-sites-to-bypass-city-council-approvals-rezoning-votes-land-use-reviews-and-reduce-public-scrutiny#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/subscription
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.