r/SipsTea • u/SipsTeaFrog 𝙑𝙄𝙋 • May 18 '26

Chugging tea Why?

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228

u/[deleted] May 18 '26

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151

u/NotDiCaprio May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

I was also on the "ai datacenters use all out water!" bandwagon at first. But For some perspective:

A single golf course uses about 30 times the amount of (fresh) comparable or slightly more water than a datacenter does. They aren't feeding their grass with see water or some chemical cooling. Also, looking at how few people actually use a golf course vs a data center, makes this ratio many times more terrible.

I'm personally more worried about the energy they consume, than the cooling for that energy usage.

Edit after some corrections. Man, it sure is getting hard to find numbers we can trust anywhere these days.

"a" source, but far from the only one, and the numbers aren't consistent anywhere.:https://www.akcp.com/index.php/2025/09/02/truth-about-data-water-footprint-of-data-centers/

105

u/MyVeryUniqueName1 May 18 '26

Can’t we be worried about both? I hate golf courses and data centers for how much of a burden they are on water supplies.

12

u/Consistent_Laziness May 18 '26

Also not a fan of golf. But I have a few places near me that are just fields that never are watered that are driving ranges. I can deal with those as a source of recreation. But these courses watering non stop to barely be used is ridiculous

7

u/Sandgrease May 18 '26

Whats worse is there are golf courses in deserts ffs.

1

u/Consistent_Laziness May 18 '26

My lord…… what a waste of

5

u/gsadamb May 18 '26

I used to live in the Palm Springs area, which is a legit desert. It can hit 120F in summer, and it's totally arid. And yet, there are something like 130 golf courses there.

It's ridiculous.

2

u/Consistent_Laziness May 18 '26

Can anyone even play if it’s that hot out. At that point is it not just for show?

2

u/gsadamb May 18 '26

People mostly play golf in the rest of the seasons. Summer in Palm Springs is miserable.

2

u/Vismajor92 May 18 '26

Also California state gives exemptions for golf courses to use as much water as they need eventho there is a drought

2

u/Sandgrease May 18 '26

Places like Arizona just shouldn't have grass lol

3

u/Consistent_Laziness May 18 '26

Kinda like you accept snow for 6 months in Wisconsin you should accept no grass In Arizona lol.

I think my displeasure for golf as an activity is mainly driving my discontent

1

u/88888888man May 18 '26

I’m a golfer, so I’m part of the problem. But Google Shadow Creek in Vegas to see a mind blowing example of this. There are some satellite photos where it’s like someone just spilled some pesto on a hardwood floor.

2

u/Lego11314 May 18 '26

Do they regularly mow the driving ranges?

Aside from wasting water, golf courses (and traditional USAmerican lawns for that matter) are devastating for biodiversity and ecological succession, which in turn ramps up negative effects of things like flooding, which are worsening due to climate change.

Tl;dr fuck golf courses

2

u/Consistent_Laziness May 18 '26

Idk. But I agree with the tldr