Make the cost of operating data centers reflect the damage to the environment and see how quickly people optimize. I don’t know how damaging storage is, but that’s the only way to make a difference.
The cost to operate a data center is already, to a close approximation, the cost of its electricity. The data center operator already pays for every joule.
Data centers used ~4% of USA electricity last year, about .15 quads, while the chemical industry used 10 quads, virtually all in the form of fossil fuel. If you are going to start reflecting the externality of energy consumption in the price of goods, information sector will probably not need to adjust anything, while the chemical sector will be fundamentally impaired.
Data centers used ~4% of USA electricity last year, about .15 quads, while the chemical industry used 10 quads, virtually all in the form of fossil fuel. If you are going to start reflecting the externality of energy consumption in the price of goods, information sector will probably not need to adjust anything, while the chemical sector will be fundamentally impaired.