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by rsolva 811 days ago
I know too little, that much is clear to me after I have started to look into this.

The situation may be somewhat unusual here in Norway, since basically all electricity is generated by hydro dams (~90%). We have made large strides the last two decades regarding energy savings (LED lighting, heat pumps and better insulation), and this has largely made it possible for us to transition rapidly from fossil cars to EVs while keeping our use of electricity quite stable.

What we are seeing now is a rapid expansion of mega datacenters that lays claim to extreme amount of electricity, more than these regions can steadily supply. This means that we need even more electricity on top of the hydro we have. This again means rapid expansion of solar parks and the destruction of vulnerable nature. Just the one Google datacenter now being built in my region will lay claim to ~5% of Norways energy use!

This worries me, and makes me doubt the "green" label on these projects.