#aidatacenters
I can "totally" believe that data center *equipment* has to be updated every 2 to 3 years.
But . . . does data center *infrastructure* really have to be abandoned every 2 to 3 years?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/G2D1llcZTT4
JEmphatically
@JEmphatically@mstdn.ca
She/her grandma, journalist, photographer, worrier, playlist-maker, environmentalist, introvert. Former tar sands PR, public servant and political organizer. Stop the genocide. Signal JodyMacPherson.64 Profile pic of me, black-framed glasses, light brown hair, graying rapidly! Header photo is of a robotic dragon belching out fire with a Hudsons Bay store sign reflected in the background. Born: 319.65 ppm About me: https://bluedotliving.com/the-shift-from-public-relations-for-fossil-fuels-to-environmental-reporter/
mstdn.ca
Read my recent story about the Olds data centre/power plant controversy, if you haven’t already, and get caught up on some new developments…
For example, Synapse has hired a public affairs agency and registered lobbyists in Alberta. Who are they and what government departments are they targeting?
Behind-the-scenes of this story: Find out who didn’t answer my questions and who’s on-the-hook for 680 local interveners’ legal costs. AUC explains the process they use to figure out how much Synapse will have to pay.
Here’s my last story for The Energy Mix with details added!
https://open.substack.com/pub/jodymacpherson/p/icymi-application-delayed-as-680?r=b0efu&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer
#AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #ableg #cdnpoli #
JEmphatically
@JEmphatically@mstdn.ca
She/her grandma, journalist, photographer, worrier, playlist-maker, environmentalist, introvert. Former tar sands PR, public servant and political organizer. Stop the genocide. Signal JodyMacPherson.64 Profile pic of me, black-framed glasses, light brown hair, graying rapidly! Header photo is of a robotic dragon belching out fire with a Hudsons Bay store sign reflected in the background. Born: 319.65 ppm About me: https://bluedotliving.com/the-shift-from-public-relations-for-fossil-fuels-to-environmental-reporter/
mstdn.ca
There’s a vacuum of accurate information around AI data centres, and misinformation/disinformation is filling that void…to the detriment of local communities and governments.
Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission said it was an existential threat to democracy.
“What we’re seeing across all democracies, in Canada and across the world, is a high level of distrust in government, a high level of distrust in journalism and in public institutions.”
But the federal government is lagging behind other countries in both creating regulations and funding solutions.
Read my newest article for The Energy Mix.
https://www.theenergymix.com/as-data-centres-multiply-government-silence-leaves-communities-exposed-to-misinformation/
#AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #ableg #cdnpoli #democracy #journalism
JEmphatically
@JEmphatically@mstdn.ca
She/her grandma, journalist, photographer, worrier, playlist-maker, environmentalist, introvert. Former tar sands PR, public servant and political organizer. Stop the genocide. Signal JodyMacPherson.64 Profile pic of me, black-framed glasses, light brown hair, graying rapidly! Header photo is of a robotic dragon belching out fire with a Hudsons Bay store sign reflected in the background. Born: 319.65 ppm About me: https://bluedotliving.com/the-shift-from-public-relations-for-fossil-fuels-to-environmental-reporter/
mstdn.ca
RE: https://mstdn.ca/@JEmphatically/116931674609108584
Now with the YouTube link!
Glubish: "So the data centre is the digital refinery, the fiber is the digital pipeline. This is essentially a way for Albertans to benefit from their natural resources at a time when the rest of Canada is making it very difficult to build pipelines to move the hydrocarbons themselves."
(Carney's MOU's and Major Projects promises don't even register...)
#AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #ableg #cdnpoli #democracy #fossilFuels
Quoting
Today's Alberta @ Noon on the CBC was a call-in show about data centres. It's not listed yet on the podcast page, but it was overwhelmingly negative callers.
Someone needs to fact-check Nate Glubish because he tried to downplay the number of large data centres being proposed...1 or 2 is what he said and that is totally incorrect.
WonderValley, Meta, Beacon AI, Crusoe, e-Struxture, Data District are all investing billions in data centres in Alberta according to the government's own Major Projects listing.
I'll share the link once it's up on the CBC website.
#ableg #abpoli #cdnpoli #fascistpancakes
Open quoted post
A Guy Named Brian (he/him)
@GuyNamedBrian@mastodon.social
Introverted environmental planner in the Mile-High City | Lay Anglican of the TEC variety | Cathedral verger, one mile up | Mainly just trying to be a decent husband & father | All views are mine! Mine I say! 😀
mastodon.social
“The developer building a new data center in north Denver said the facility could use up to 805,000 gallons of water each day to cool its computer systems if all three planned buildings are constructed.
A single-family home uses roughly 200 gallons of water per day, according to Denver Water.”
#DataCenters #AIDataCenters #Denver #WaterResources #Drought #Drought2026 #Colorado #ColoradoSun
https://coloradosun.com/2026/06/29/denver-data-center-contoversy/
JEmphatically
@JEmphatically@mstdn.ca
She/her grandma, journalist, photographer, worrier, playlist-maker, environmentalist, introvert. Former tar sands PR, public servant and political organizer. Stop the genocide. Signal JodyMacPherson.64 Profile pic of me, black-framed glasses, light brown hair, graying rapidly! Header photo is of a robotic dragon belching out fire with a Hudsons Bay store sign reflected in the background. Born: 319.65 ppm About me: https://bluedotliving.com/the-shift-from-public-relations-for-fossil-fuels-to-environmental-reporter/
mstdn.ca
I've been reading reports...several of them...about data centres (of course!).
What I discovered is coming out in my next article for The Energy Mix tomorrow.
In the meantime, check out this excellent article that I was reading while writing my compiler story.
"AI is turning out to be more expensive for businesses than paying their workers. And that could be one of the many triggers that collapses the fragile economic edifice that the dreams of AI are propping up."
https://prospect.org/2026/07/08/great-ai-repricing-isnt-going-well/
#AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #cdnpoli #ableg #abpoli #Meta #Facebook
DoomsdaysCW
@DoomsdaysCW@kolektiva.social
Fmr Journalist📰 and occasional Librarian 📚, #IndigenousAlly living on #Wabanaki land🌄. #NonBinary 
#Queer 
#ActuallyAutistic♾️ Pronouns: They, them, per, person, human. #Environmentalist🌳 #DemocraticSocialist🌹 Student of #AncientHistory 📜 #NoNukes☢️ Anti#Oligarchy🎩 #NoWar☮️ #GetMoneyOut💰#HumanRights🕵️♂️ #FreePalestine🇵🇸 #BLM✊🏿 #IndigenousRights 🌿 #WaterIsLife💧Anti-#Corruption🔍 #ClimateCrisis🌍 #RightToRepair 🪛 #SolarPunkSunday 🌞
kolektiva.social
#Georgia family says they're forced to sell home to help power #AIDatacenters: "It's theft"
By Shannon Luibrand
Updated on: July 13, 2026
"Sell your home, or the state will take it — that's the ultimatum some homeowners in Georgia say they are facing amid the AI boom.
"Utility giant #GeorgiaPower is planning to build a new transmission line to in part help power new #datacenters. It estimates 70-80% of the power on the new line will help serve data centers and the remaining 20-30% of power will serve the state's growing residential and commercial demand.
"According to the company, increasing demand has outpaced the capacity of its existing grid and building a new transmission line requires acquiring more than 300 parcels of land, including residential properties.
"Ansley Brown's childhood home that she said was built when she was 5 or 6 years old is just one of the properties impacted.
" 'It's ours,' she told CBS News. 'It's our family. We belong here.'
"Her mother wanted the property to serve as 'true generational wealth,' Brown said, adding that now 'it's being stripped from us.'
"Brown's mother recently came to an agreement with Georgia Power to sell. If she didn't, Brown said the utility could have sought to acquire the property through #EminentDomain — which is a legal process that allows private property to be taken, with compensation, for projects determined to serve a public purpose.
" 'To us it's theft. It's literally a billion dollar company stealing land from smaller people, people who can't fight back. We don't have the money to fight Georgia Power,' Brown said.
"Holly Lovett, a spokesperson for Georgia Power, said eminent domain 'is always … a last resort for us and it's something we never want to do.'
"The company said it feels as if it's done the process responsibly, but Brown disagrees.
" 'You can't tear down 35 miles of rural Georgia and it not hurt something or somebody. And to say that you're doing it in the name of data centers is a slap in the face to us, our community, our animals,' she said.
"A few months ago Brown took her story to TikTok and began sharing stories of others in similar situations. She said that while she knows it's too late to save her home, she doesn't want to see this happen to others."
Read more:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-power-ai-data-centers-eminent-domain/
#NoDatacenters #USPol #AISucks #BigPower #BigData
Joyce Bell 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🇬🇱🚫🧊
@joycebell@mas.to
"That the situation appears hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best."—Aldo Leopold
mas.to
Wisconsin regulators refuse to loosen data center credit rules, setting up Oracle court fight. #datacenters #aidatacenters #oracle #wisconsin #portwashington #wisconsinpublicservicecommission #weenergies
https://wisconsinwatch.org/2026/07/wisconsin-regulators-refuse-to-loosen-data-center-credit-rules-setting-up-oracle-court-fight/
JEmphatically
@JEmphatically@mstdn.ca
She/her grandma, journalist, photographer, worrier, playlist-maker, environmentalist, introvert. Former tar sands PR, public servant and political organizer. Stop the genocide. Signal JodyMacPherson.64 Profile pic of me, black-framed glasses, light brown hair, graying rapidly! Header photo is of a robotic dragon belching out fire with a Hudsons Bay store sign reflected in the background. Born: 319.65 ppm About me: https://bluedotliving.com/the-shift-from-public-relations-for-fossil-fuels-to-environmental-reporter/
mstdn.ca
While everyone is focused on Meta’s AI data centre, Alberta is planning to allocate an additional 1.6 GW from the grid to data centres…temporarily. And the regulator admitted in a publicly available engagement session with industry that it’s going to raise everyone’s costs for electricity.
Facebook needs 1GW of power as soon as possible…AESO is freeing up 1.6GW to data centres that have plans to build their own generation…Just sayin’.
Electricity bills for everyone will likely go up, demand for natural gas will raise prices, and experts are warning about the impacts of large load data centres on the grid.
Read more in my latest for The Energy Mix.
https://www.theenergymix.com/temporary-grid-power-for-data-centres-will-raise-electricity-bills-alberta-regulator-admits/
#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #Facebook #electricitygrid #AIdatacentres #AIDataCenters
JEmphatically
@JEmphatically@mstdn.ca
She/her grandma, journalist, photographer, worrier, playlist-maker, environmentalist, introvert. Former tar sands PR, public servant and political organizer. Stop the genocide. Signal JodyMacPherson.64 Profile pic of me, black-framed glasses, light brown hair, graying rapidly! Header photo is of a robotic dragon belching out fire with a Hudsons Bay store sign reflected in the background. Born: 319.65 ppm About me: https://bluedotliving.com/the-shift-from-public-relations-for-fossil-fuels-to-environmental-reporter/
mstdn.ca
Data centre developers want Alberta to fast-track like Utah did
There's an AI data centre convention this week in Calgary and it's being promoted on LinkedIn. Would you be surprised to hear that the data centre lobby is arguing that Alberta is going too slow and that the province lost out to Utah because of a "state-level fast-track Alberta doesn't have"?
The province already has a concierge service, has waved environmental impact assessments for every data centre so far, and has an "Automatic Yes" permitting policy.
But it's not enough. They want the province to help AI data centre developers do what Kevin O'Leary did to Utah.
And they're pressuring elected officials with statements like this: "The deal goes to whoever moves first."
#AIDataCentres #AIDataCenters #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #AILobby
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