AI Data Centers’ Water Consumption Breaks 264 Billion Gallons in 2025 as Devastating Drought Hits Nearly 63% of U.S.
www.barchart.com
Americans across multiple states are being urged to conserve water as drought conditions intensify, reservoirs shrink, and utilities issue increasingly urgent warnings. At the same time, a different kind of consumer is quietly demanding unprecedented...
  • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    Global beef production used approximately 264 trillion gallons. Quite literally 1000x more water.

    For a single type of food.

    Water for irrigation of peoples lawns is just under 3 trillion liters a year in the US, about 10x as much.

    Where are the protests against that?

    Nowhere, because people are sheep and can’t use their critical thinking skills.

    This is like watching people yell at their kids to turn off the light in their room(which is an led) while leaving the AC running at home while they run out to the grocery store 10 miles away in a 7 seat SUV.

    Missing the forest for the trees. The lot of you.

    • moustachio@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 month ago

      AI apologists in the wild are so weird.

      LLMs in current form are protested because they’re a worthless “technology” that also wastes a fuck ton of resources so the ruling class can do IP theft at scale.

      • Sniatch@feddit.org
        01·
        1 month ago

        Meat apoligists are also weird, just saying. Meat Production is way worse than AI. Lots of animals are sufferint and it’s very bad for the enviornment.

    • el_muerte@lemmy.ca
      0·
      1 month ago

      “The Holocaust only killed like six million people, while Communism in China and the USSR killed tens of millions each, therefore the Nazis weren’t ackshually that bad!”

      That’s what you sound like, ya fucking clown.

      • iopq@lemmy.world
        01·
        30 days ago

        Except AI water use is the number is people who drown in backyard pools. Not great, but not an argument for banning it

  • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
    0·
    1 month ago

    We use twice as much to maintain golf courses and 4x as much to water our lawns every year. I’m not saying it’s a drop in the bucket, so to speak, but it’s not the worst offender. We have bigger fish to fry.

    • errer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      Keep in mind data center water use is set to grow geometrically over the next few years. It will soon be one of the worst offenders. The time to get it under control is now.

      • iopq@lemmy.world
        01·
        1 month ago

        We’re not about to run out of water. You should be asking for better permitting for renewable energy because we can run out of that

        Texas actually outgrew California in renewable energy because of less regulation