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1. Embed this notice
   Mark Hurst (markhurst@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 00:25:58 JST Mark Hurst

   "Between 2024 and 2028, the share of US electricity going to data centers may triple, from its current 4.4% to 12%."

   Astounding that we prioritize electricity for AI over *every* *other* *possible* *use*. Housing, schools, and hospitals all have to make way for Big Tech data centers.

   Important article by Tech Review:

   https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@friedcheese.us)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 00:25:58 JST feld

     in reply to
     @markhurst are they taking away electricity from housing, schools, and hospitals?
   • Embed this notice
     Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: (tk@bbs.kawa-kun.com)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 00:30:22 JST Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:

     in reply to
     @feld @markhurst They're raising the prices of electricity for housing, schools, and hospitals. :blobfoxgoogly:
   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@friedcheese.us)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 00:32:53 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     @tk @markhurst are they now? It actually takes quite a bit of work to do a rate increase in the USA.
     
     Though my official stance is that commercial customers shouldn't be paying a lower (bulk) rate than everyone else. Regular folks are subsidizing local factories without their knowledge and that's not cool
     Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: (tk@bbs.kawa-kun.com)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 00:34:21 JST Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:

     in reply to

     • feld
     @feld @markhurst I mean, regular folks are subsidizing billionaires already since the latter aren't paying much in the way of taxes. :blobfoxgooglymlem:
   • Embed this notice
     Mark Hurst (markhurst@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 00:47:28 JST Mark Hurst

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     • feld

     @feld @tk the Tech Review article quotes people asking why they should pay higher rates.

     Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@friedcheese.us)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 00:53:07 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     @markhurst @tk I don't care what the people's quotes say, I want proof the rates are going up. It takes a long time to get regulatory approval to raise rates. Somewhere between 18 months to a few years.
   • Embed this notice
     Anthony (abucci@buc.ci)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 01:25:00 JST Anthony

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     • feld
     @feld@friedcheese.us Yes, datacenters are affecting consumer rates, and yes, utilities are gaming regulations to do it: https://lpeproject.org/blog/youre-paying-big-techs-power-bill/ . The section HOW DATA CENTER COSTS CREEP INTO RATEPAYERS’ BILLS reviews regulations and details how costs are passed to consumers, which includes standard rate cases based on anticipated operating costs due to data centers--which become socialized costs--but also circumventing the rate case entirely via "special contracts".
     
     @tk@bbs.kawa-kun.com @markhurst@mastodon.social
     
   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@friedcheese.us)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 01:25:20 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     • Anthony
     @abucci @tk @markhurst there is zero new information in this article that has not been public knowledge for decades. They unashamedly presented this in our internal training classes on utility economics when I worked at a utility doing IT security.
     
     To be clear: it has nothing to do with datacenters or AI. This is normal business.
     
     Anyone who wants manufacturing to come back to the USA -- this is what it will look like. The utilities will sign sweetheart deals with the companies and regardless of efficiency/renewables lowering their energy production costs, the people will bear the burden.
     
     Have a big factory in your town? The people are subsidizing that business.
   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@friedcheese.us)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 01:26:07 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     • Anthony
     • feld
     @abucci @markhurst @tk it's also a terribly written article. What the hell is this sentence:
     
     > The electric utility industry is one of monopolists.
   • Embed this notice
     Anthony (abucci@buc.ci)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 01:38:18 JST Anthony

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     • feld
     @feld@friedcheese.us Well, you seem to have a bone to pick that I'm not interested in picking.
     
     For everyone else: the authors of the article are describing their own research on the subject whether it's "new information" according to the other guy or not; yes, utilities are controlled monopolies, despite the objection; and whether or not this is "normal" business, not everybody knows how this works, they should, and they absolutely should not be bullied into accepting it just because the guy above has chosen to. That's authoritarian thinking.
     
     @tk@bbs.kawa-kun.com @feld@friedcheese.us @markhurst@mastodon.social
     
     Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem: likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     feld (feld@friedcheese.us)'s status on Friday, 23-May-2025 01:46:15 JST feld

     in reply to

     • Doughnut Lollipop 【記録係】:blobfoxgooglymlem:
     • Anthony
     @abucci @tk @markhurst if you want to solve this problem you need to actually understand it and its history or you'll be undermined by the proponents of these policies.
     
     Demand fair rate schedules / equity in pricing instead of whinging about datacenters and AI or the factory down the road will continue to get away with being subsidized because everyone is focusing on AI panic.
     
     And then the AI and datacenter companies will continue buying power plants, privatized solar fars, and building reactors to power themselves, everyone will forget about the issue because it has been "solved" on its own as they won't need these sweetheart contracts and the rest of industrial America will soldier on continuing to extract wealth out of their communities like a giant tick.
     
     Attack the ROOT of the problem, not the symptoms.