An other one of those "who would have thought 🤔" news.

Scientists raise concerns over hyperscale data center impact on ecology | KSL.com

https://ksltv.com/environment/scientists-raise-concerns-over-hyperscale-data-center-impact-on-ecology/906178/

#ai #antiai #DataCentres #Environmentalimpact

AI-powered computing demand is 'fundamentally reshaping' the role of cooling in #datacentres, a new whitepaper from Frost & Sullivan has said. 💻

https://sustainabilityonline.net/research/cooling-systems-now-a-central-part-of-data-centre-strategy-says-frost-sullivan/

Why powering the AI boom is breaking Europe’s grid.

From decade-long grid queues to facilities running at half capacity, a new study exposes the energy crisis at the heart of Europe’s push to boost its AI capabilities.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20260505-why-powering-the-ai-boom-is-breaking-europes-grid?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

#AI #DataCentres #Energy #Electricity #Grid

Australia's AI Push Tests Copyright Laws

As singer-songwriter Nick Cave once mused, composition is an act of self-murder - but what happens when AI can create work that stirs our souls, and challenges our perceptions of artistic value and human authorship? Australia's restrictive copyright laws may be stifling innovation, as AI companies shy away from investing in…

https://osintsights.com/australias-ai-push-tests-copyright-laws?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

#ArtificialIntelligence #AustralianCopyrightLaw #DataCentres #EmergingTechnologies #IntellectualProperty

Crikey | Why big tech has always been obsessed with hiding its shame by Ketan Joshi

AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information.

The article argues that big‑tech companies routinely obscure the true scale of their environmental impact, pointing to examples such as Amazon’s claim of 100 % renewable power while fighting mandatory emissions reporting, and using Canberra Data Centres (CDC) as a case study: its founder Greg Boorer boasts that Australia can build world‑class data centres and still meet net‑zero targets by tapping “substantial unused capacity” in the power system and claims CDC is already net‑zero, despite the broader reality that the industry is imposing massive new energy demand on suburban fringes and relying on vague promises of future technological fixes to downplay the issue.

Read more: https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/05/04/data-centres-carbon-emissions-meta-apple-amazon-microsoft/

#Amazon #GregBoorer #carbonemissions #climatechange #datacentres

Alberta Water Council among several environmental advisory groups being eliminated for minimal savings

https://archive.ph/8t9hK

The UCP government pulled the plug on an independent council that provided expert advice to the province on water policy.

Canadians are basically being told we can’t be scared of what we don’t know. And, we don’t know what we don’t know, right?

Danielle Smith’s UCP is cutting off our ability to assess and track the environmental impacts of 3 major datacentre projects that are proposed for Alberta in Wonder Valley, Mihta Askiy, and Synapse. With the Federal Government also signalling a pull back on Environmental Assessment, experts rightly sound the alarm to state the obvious:

You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Worse, these projects are not traditional infrastructure projects that provide critical “Public Goods” to society. They’re in many ways long-term investments in data management technologies that may prove to be bad gambles. As of 2026, in the midst of an on-going US-Iran conflict, and what most observers expect will lead to $150 per barrel oil, fuel shortages, fertilizer shortages, and worse, data centres are enormous investments in time, energy, water, and space. In exchange, these Data Centres may lead to contributions in “Artificial Intelligence”, but the reality of the technology is uneven adoption and even less productivity than hoped for.

As the world develops these “AI” products, there’s also an expectation that they become leaner, more efficient, and more performant. When these efficiencies are developed, and become industry changing, whole markets rattle wondering if the existing data centres and their investments were wasted. For example, Canadians can just look at the 2025 release of DeepSeek, which essentially introduced a new competitor to the AI sector, and a model that was indeed more efficient and performant at the same time. At that moment, NVIDIA stocks lost $600 Billion in value.

With additional developments in this space, Canadians can see that the markets continue to rattle in 2026, costing Billions more in losses.

https://www.upgrad.com/blog/chinese-ai-returns-to-haunt-markets-one-year-after-deepseek/

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-ai-models-rattling-markets-42ee512e

https://archive.is/iFbbd

As each year passes, and new models are released, these Data Centres have regular maintenance schedules that require regular replacement of spent chips and all of its components - much like a vehicle. Under the present geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the massive volumes of natural gas and precious water that will be spent feeding these centres pose a real risk that Albertans can be holding the bag to some extremely destructive Data Centres without appropriate security or collateral.

Some of these projects will be within ear shot of residential areas. You don’t have to search very far for people complaining about the noise from the power generators on site to figure out these Data Centres can literally alter the way entire communities are built

So, it’s true, Canadians cannot manage what we don’t measure. But, we can also see what’s happened already to know we’re not even managing the risk of when these Data Centres go wrong.

https://kopitalk.net/c/canada/p/426197/impact-assessments-not-required-for-olds-mihta-askiy-data-centres-expert-says-legislatio

Should Canadians be disturbed that Assessments are being set aside for these very slap dash projects that are considered Natural Gas Plants, and are presented as “infrastructure”? Of course.

Should Canadians be worried about what little we already know? Let’s take a peek at Wonder Valley: From the National Observer’s Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Albertans are also aware that the Wonder Valley project is not just about power generation. Specifically, the Wonder Valley project alone is expected to consume enough water to match that of 460,000 people over their entire lifetimes….

The plan is outlined in a heavily redacted land sale contract signed on March 25, 2026, between O’Leary’s company and a rural municipality of fewer than 9,000 people north of Edmonton.

Under the agreement, the Municipal District of Greenview will transfer a large part of a planned industrial park developed by the district to O’Leary’s company in three phases as it builds out the 7.5-gigawatt Wonder Valley project. But there’s a catch: before the sale goes through, the municipality must “act as an agent” for O’Leary’s company by securing provincial water licences that give the facility access to up to 24 million cubic metres of water annually.

That’s enough water for about 460,000 people over their lifetimes, drawn from a municipality that last year declared an agricultural emergency because of drought.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/04/20/news/kevin-oleary-pins-water-licence-70-billion-data-centre-project-small-alberta

The Politician may like the prospect of pleasing Oil and Gas incumbents with a solid source of demand for Natural Gas. But no one seems to give a damn about where the costs are landing - seems to be on everyone else’s backs.

HYPE 2026
#M3 site #NEXTDC & #Kapitol 100MW expansion hyperscale #Ai computing digital - exploitation - future: speed-scale-sovereign-sustainable snags ?
- Craig Scroggie #influencer

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/03/ai-datacentres-australia-opposition

#Capitalism #DataCentres #Diesel #Enshittification #fossilfuels