[acdha]

The problem is that we don’t correctly price pollution: it’d be one thing if this boom meant acres of solar panels and wind turbines getting greenlit but in practice it means keeping some dirty plants online and building out new pollution capacity, sometimes completely illegally like what happened in Memphis.

All of this would go away overnight if we taxed carbon.

[xvedejas]

Isn't most new capacity solar these days?

[acdha]

New is heavily solar, yes, but there’s still too much natural gas and the administration is deeply committed to returning the investment fossil fuel companies made in the president’s campaign so I wouldn’t bet on that continuing.

What’s more of a concern is coal being kept online just for data centers. Even if the national average drops, that’s a regional health risk where it happens.

https://www.powermag.com/power-demand-from-data-centers-keep...

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67205

[collabs]

That we know of?

Do you trust these tech bros to be truthful?

> Just south of the Tennessee-Mississippi state line sits dozens of unpermitted gas turbines that power xAI’s Colossus 2 data center while releasing smog-forming pollution, soot, and hazardous chemicals like formaldehyde. The tech company set up the de facto power plant with no permits, no public input, and no notice to nearby communities that will have to deal with the consequences.

https://www.selc.org/news/xai-built-an-illegal-power-plant-t...

[xvedejas]

Sounds like a slam-dunk case for SELC?

[csharpminor]

“So glad we found a home for all of the Claudes!”