Mastodawn

Did you know that Microsoft applied for a permit for a warehouse in southern Sweden - and once they had built the "warehouse" they declared they were going to host a datacenter there with diesel backup generators?

I mean, we hear this happening all the time and so let's hate on data centers, right?

The difference is that this is Sweden, and we don't accept that shit. They were not allowed to run their diesel generators, had to purchase battery power instead and in the end they closed the data center down since they couldn't win this fight.

That's how you deal with it.

(They are now using other datacenters in other locations in Sweden, fully compliant with the laws, with renewable energy and not using water for cooling as far as I can see)

Show thread

f15h

🇺🇦

@troed Any sources, like news articles or official documents?

Show thread

Troed Sångberg 1d ago

@f15h Yes. The local paper Sydsvenskan were the main outlet reporting on it. This is but one article of many: https://www.sydsvenskan.se/staffanstorp/microsoft-aterkallar-ansokan-for-staffanstorp-letar-efter-ny-plats-for-datacenter/

Microsoft återkallar ansökan för Staffanstorp – letar efter ny plats för datacenter

Bolaget har lyssnat på lokalsamhället.

Sydsvenskan

Show thread

Paavi (ei se paavi)1d ago

@troed @f15h It's still problematic though. Also there's limited amount of renewables unless you want to also get rid of the forests and fields. https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/reimagining-public-values-in-algorithmic-futures/whats-new/dismantling-public-values-one-data-center-at-the-time (yes, this is from a Finnish university but the article is about Sweden, it's few years old but the premise is still there)

Dismantling public values, one data center at the time | Reimagining public values in algorithmic futures | University of Helsinki

In this blog post Julia Velkova discusses the problematics related to data centres from the Nordic perspective: Are the Nordic States too reliant on tech giants to in the critical communication infrastructures of the Welfare state?

University of Helsinki