Why are we paying for data centers' electricity usage?

[Anonymous]

Every time you do a Google search, watch Netflix, buy something on Amazon, or surf DCUM, a datacenter is involved. Want to end all that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time you do a Google search, watch Netflix, buy something on Amazon, or surf DCUM, a datacenter is involved. Want to end all that?

You have no idea what you are talking about. The demands from the ridiculous "AI" systems are growing like crazy and the reason for all this. Nothing to do with regular Internet demand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because corporations are America's biggest welfare queens and get the most handouts

+2

Eat the rich! All power to the people! Higher taxes (except for me, of course)!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time you do a Google search, watch Netflix, buy something on Amazon, or surf DCUM, a datacenter is involved. Want to end all that?

You have no idea what you are talking about. The demands from the ridiculous "AI" systems are growing like crazy and the reason for all this. Nothing to do with regular Internet demand

Ok then.. what % of compute capacity in datacenters are used by AI?

It's about 20-30% at most. The reason is most of what we do online isn't AI. Zoom meetings, watching Netflix, writing emails and so on. That's the bread and butter of datacenters.

Yes, AI demand and use will increase, however the efficiency of AI has been increasing 10-fold as we innovate, and we're also reaching a limit in terms of the LLM models to the point that older models (much cheaper to run) can handle the workload just as well. Right now, AI use is artificially cheap as it's subsidized by investors who care more about market share for the AI company they've invested in.. just like Uber used to lose on every ride you took. That'll all play out shortly and AI use will be cost and efficiency focused.

I could be wrong, but I've been in this industry way too long and I've seen how tech trends play out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time you do a Google search, watch Netflix, buy something on Amazon, or surf DCUM, a datacenter is involved. Want to end all that?

You have no idea what you are talking about. The demands from the ridiculous "AI" systems are growing like crazy and the reason for all this. Nothing to do with regular Internet demand

Ok then.. what % of compute capacity in datacenters are used by AI?

It's about 20-30% at most. The reason is most of what we do online isn't AI. Zoom meetings, watching Netflix, writing emails and so on. That's the bread and butter of datacenters.

Yes, AI demand and use will increase, however the efficiency of AI has been increasing 10-fold as we innovate, and we're also reaching a limit in terms of the LLM models to the point that older models (much cheaper to run) can handle the workload just as well. Right now, AI use is artificially cheap as it's subsidized by investors who care more about market share for the AI company they've invested in.. just like Uber used to lose on every ride you took. That'll all play out shortly and AI use will be cost and efficiency focused.

I could be wrong, but I've been in this industry way too long and I've seen how tech trends play out.

Nothing personal, but almost everything you said is wrong You should read more about how these companies work

[Anonymous]

Because Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because corporations are America's biggest welfare queens and get the most handouts

It doesn't matter which party is in power, the US is pro business to the detriment of the health and well being of its citizens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because corporations are America's biggest welfare queens and get the most handouts

It doesn't matter which party is in power, the US is pro business to the detriment of the health and well being of its citizens.

Right, because businesses neither pay taxes nor employ anyone, so are bad. And business necessarily means citizens have bad health, because nobody is responsible for their own health, it's all in the hands of businesses. We're all just hapless victims of capitalism! The system made me smoke, become obese, adopt addictions, make poor food choices, and not exercise! I'm not responsible!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Data centers are moving toward hybrid flywheel-battery energy storage systems that combine physical flywheels with chemical batteries. It won't be like this forever.

No they won’t, not with current technology or costs of battery energy storage. A single MW battery is the size of a shipping container and costs more than a million dollars. Data centers now are typically 100-300MW or even larger. There is not enough room on most of these data center sites for hundreds of MW of battery storage capacity, and the cost would be astronomical. Data centers also use this amount of electricity continuously, so 100MW of storage capacity would only last around an hour if the (100MW) data center pulls 100% of energy from the battery storage. Even then the data center still needs to take extra electricity from the grid at some point or create pollution with generators to have the electricity to store in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time you do a Google search, watch Netflix, buy something on Amazon, or surf DCUM, a datacenter is involved. Want to end all that?

You have no idea what you are talking about. The demands from the ridiculous "AI" systems are growing like crazy and the reason for all this. Nothing to do with regular Internet demand

Ok then.. what % of compute capacity in datacenters are used by AI?

It's about 20-30% at most. The reason is most of what we do online isn't AI. Zoom meetings, watching Netflix, writing emails and so on. That's the bread and butter of datacenters.

Yes, AI demand and use will increase, however the efficiency of AI has been increasing 10-fold as we innovate, and we're also reaching a limit in terms of the LLM models to the point that older models (much cheaper to run) can handle the workload just as well. Right now, AI use is artificially cheap as it's subsidized by investors who care more about market share for the AI company they've invested in.. just like Uber used to lose on every ride you took. That'll all play out shortly and AI use will be cost and efficiency focused.

I could be wrong, but I've been in this industry way too long and I've seen how tech trends play out.

Nothing personal, but almost everything you said is wrong You should read more about how these companies work

What am I wrong about? I'm not in the AI industry directly, but I'm in a tech-adjacent industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Data centers are moving toward hybrid flywheel-battery energy storage systems that combine physical flywheels with chemical batteries. It won't be like this forever.

No they won’t, not with current technology or costs of battery energy storage. A single MW battery is the size of a shipping container and costs more than a million dollars. Data centers now are typically 100-300MW or even larger. There is not enough room on most of these data center sites for hundreds of MW of battery storage capacity, and the cost would be astronomical. Data centers also use this amount of electricity continuously, so 100MW of storage capacity would only last around an hour if the (100MW) data center pulls 100% of energy from the battery storage. Even then the data center still needs to take extra electricity from the grid at some point or create pollution with generators to have the electricity to store in the first place.

The energy storage batteries also generate a lot of waste heat, so they cannot be stacked efficiently into cube to save space or placed in too close proximity to each other. Not possible to create a tower of 100 mw battery capacity because it will start a fire from all the waste heat.

[Anonymous]

So much ignorance on display here…

“We” aren’t paying for data centers’ electricity. It is a standard supply and demand issue just like the price of eggs. If demand for eggs goes up, leading to higher prices, that doesn’t mean you are paying for anyone else’s eggs.


With the initial false framing addressed…


The issue is that it is slow and difficult to build new power generation in VA where there is new demand. The solution isn’t still more nimbyism, it is to bring new capacity online quickly, which in most cases would mean wind, solar, and batteries.

Texas is actually an exemplar of how free market forces are driving green energy adoption while keeping consumer electricity prices low. Texas is second only to VA in its data center construction but it has actually brought the necessary new electrical capacity online, keeping prices low. (The overwhelming majority of new capacity has been wind/solar/batteries.)

https://www.dallasfed.org/research/economics/2026/0203-patel-solar

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=66464

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/02/09/totalenergies-signs-1-gw-of-solar-ppas-for-googles-texas-data-centers/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All users pay for the infrastructure required to generate and deliver electricity. When you have huge data centers consuming massive amounts of electricity, all users of that electricity company share in the cost to build that capacity. We are not directly paying their electricity bill but we are indirectly paying for the infrastructure which increases all of our bills

Yes they are not paying their fair share. They aren't paying proportionate to their usage. They're being subsidized by the public without a corresponding public benefit

Cloud computing and storage, network reliability/resilience, and so on are not public benefits? How silly of those of us who think otherwise.

Data centers enable capabilities we all want, albeit usually not in our own back yards. We want AI, we want robust IT infrastructures supporting our personal and business needs, and we want it all at the expense of the providers?

No, we do not ALL want those capabilities.

Considering how many times major companies and even the government get hacked, I try my hardest to keep my data off the cloud.

While I acknowledge that AI has immense potential to benefit humanity, I think it also has immense potential to harm humanity, which is magnified by being ignored. At best, we’re looking at major economic disruption on our way to a Utopia based on the enslavement of sentient beings. Alternatively, we could be engineering the destruction of the human race by designing AIs who are smarter than us, giving them physical robot bodies that are superior to ours, and turning over the functioning and control of our world to their efficiency. I’d like to halt AI development until we can analyze the problems and implement safeguards against the dangers and strategies to ease the transition.

While I do actually want IT infrastructures, they are a lesser priority than my desire for water and energy, both of which are resources that AI’s requirements strain.

So, no, I don’t want large data centers, but if they’re nonetheless being foisted upon me I certainly resent providers charging me for the “privilege”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Datacenter industry person here. In most areas, datacenters pay a special commercial rate, which is typically higher than regular commercial cusotmers. Those rates are higher than residential rates.

As for jobs, yes there are a lot fewer jobs in the land area a datacenter takes up compared to putting a shopping mall on the same space. However, datacenters are usually in undesirable locations, and don't generate much traffic. Many of the jobs in datacenters are very high paying because the people who are on staff tend to be very skilled engineers... along with security guards who are paid market rate.

Dont really care. It's a scourge on our communities.

if residential rates went up due to commercial customers demands then have commercial customers pay more but keep residential rates flat? problem solved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are you paying for someone else?

Can you explain?

Supply and demand. As data centers suck up electricity, all rate payers pay a higher price and thus subsidize the data centers.