BeepMar 12

The King's Art

https://lemmus.org/post/20796029

Show threadFauxLivingMar 13

Just for perspective, since this anti-AI meme handwringing about water won’t die.

The US Corn industry alone uses 8x more water than all of the AI datacenters on the entire planet. 40% of that production is used to make fuels which are shipped around the country to be burned, injecting carbon into the atmosphere.

The water used by datacenters is evaporated and remains part of the local hydrological cycle. Unless they are placed in an area with water shortages, like a desert, the amount of water used by a datacenter isn’t significant.

Local power usage, local noise pollution, unsustainable investments made by capricious capitalists… those are all legitimate areas of criticism for AI datacenters. Water use is not.

Show threadmnemonicmonkeys

which are shipped around the country to be burned, injecting carbon into the atmosphere.

While I broadly agree with your comment, this line is a stretch. The carbon released is only from transportation and fertilizer production. The carbon inside the ethanol itself is actually pulled from the environment, so that part is actually carbon neutral.

The big problem with ethanol production is that it takes 5 gallons of fuel to produce 4 gallons of ethanol. It’s literally just pissing away time, money, and resources just to subsidize farmers.

Mar 13 at 12:15pmWeb
Show threadFauxLivingMar 13

Yeah it isn’t the strongest point, I’ll admit.

I should say that the corn is carbon neutral but the other inputs, such as the fertilizer and the machinery used to irrigate and harvest it do product net positive carbon. In addition, the opportunity cost is that we’re not using that water and land to grow food creating secondary affects for the people that need to eat food.

Show threadmnemonicmonkeysMar 14

In addition, the opportunity cost is that we’re not using that water and land to grow food creating secondary affects for the people that need to eat food.

Eh, the US is a net calorie exporter regarding food. We make enough to feed everyone.

A bigger problem is the additional land needed to grow the corn for ethanol. That demands expansion of agricultural land, which means destroying forests and wetlands which are extremely important for sustaining ecosystems.

You know how people are going on about ecological collapse and how the drop off in insect populations are the biggest warning sign? That’s caused by humans tearing down their ecosystems for farming and land development

Show threadnBodyProblemMar 13
It’s valuable for reducing smog and makes great fuel for performance cars
Show threadRustyMar 13
@nBodyProblem @mnemonicmonkeys at a 40% efficiency hit yes. It is great for turbos!
Show threadmnemonicmonkeysMar 14

It’s valuable for reducing smog

And EV’s are even better at it. And public transportation.

Overall, we need to work towards on mass public transport, EV’s in smaller vehicles, and hydrogen fuels for larger vehicles. Ethanol could still be produced for the things that absolutely can’t work as an EV or fuel cell, but the scale we make it at is way larger than needed for that

Show threadnBodyProblemMar 15

Okay? How is that relevant?

Basically nobody in the current era is suggesting ethanol as an alternative to any of the things you are mentioning, and realistically ethanol is not being used as a primary fuel source. Most cars can’t even take E85 without modifications. It’s used as a fuel additive, for which is has significant public health benefits, and for industrial uses like a perfumery ingredient or a solvent