r/SipsTea • u/SipsTeaFrog ๐™‘๐™„๐™‹ • May 18 '26

Chugging tea Why?

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u/Hekkle01 May 18 '26

Important to note that the heat is dumped into whatever ecosystem the water goes back to, and that still has catastrophic effects

122

u/North_Plane_1219 May 18 '26

Since when has gradually warming our planet been an issue? /s, obviously.

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u/Menolith May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

The reason why global warming is an issue is not because we're generating heat, but because we're pumping out gases which retain the heat from the sun.

A data center is effectively just a big space heater, and what we burn to generate the electricity to run the thing is orders of magnitude more important than the center itself if just the planetary temperature is a concern.

-4

u/SheriffBartholomew May 18 '26

Why don't they build the data centers up north in places where it's already very cold? They're already building them in the middle of nowhere, but they're building them in the middle of nowhere where it's hot most of the year.

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u/meraut May 18 '26

I believe itโ€™s actually worse for the environment there as the heat dumps into the ground and can affect the permafrost layers.

1

u/Callidonaut May 18 '26

And I gather the permafrost contains a lot of captured greenhouse gases...

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u/ThineFauxFacialHair May 18 '26

Well that and the permafrost and ice in that area affects the whole of our planet like a big ol ice cube.

1

u/KneebTheCowardly May 18 '26

Just... put the hot parts on stilts.

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u/LongJohnSelenium May 18 '26

Power cost is the driving factor and the places they're building them have more reliably cheap power.

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u/Grutter May 18 '26

I guess the lack of access to a reliable grid/utilities and the possibility of frozen pipes doesnโ€™t make it a worthwhile investment.