Die Unterstützung der Wähler in Virginia für neue Rechenzentren bricht von 69 % im Jahr 2023 auf 35 % in einer neuen Umfrage ein
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/virginia-voter-support-for-new-data-centers-collapses-to-35-percent
Die Unterstützung der Wähler in Virginia für neue Rechenzentren bricht von 69 % im Jahr 2023 auf 35 % in einer neuen Umfrage ein
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/virginia-voter-support-for-new-data-centers-collapses-to-35-percent
9 Kommentare
The 35% must be getting a kick back.
And yet, politicians will continue to push these onto their constituents as if they’re good deals, using all the bullshit talking points they’ve been provided by their friendly neighborhood tech lobbyists. Paid to be completely at odds with the interests and will of the people they „represent.“
And it will still be built even though they never said thank you.
When was it ever 69%?
My question is….what do the people most affected by these centers benefit from for allowing them in their communities? I’m tired of the rich getting richer on my behalf!!!
I imagine they were likely sold initially as a tool to bring in jobs, then people started realizing that once the initial construction is done, there are very few actually provided. On top of that, they’re a resource hog, likely driving up local infrastructure costs.
According to AI:
Virginia has the MOST data centers already. Then Texas. Then California. Then Illinois.
Now what? How about….AI Bhad?
Yay! AI Bhad! Boooo. Hissssss.
DATA CENTERS ARE NOT JUST FOR AI
Scrolling Instagram Uses 4-5x more energy than Al
Watching Netflix / YouTube Uses 7x more energy than Al
Playing PC Video Games Uses 12-25x more energy than Al
Video Calls (Zoom / Teams) Uses 6-7x more energy than Al
Music Streaming Uses 2-3x more energy than Al
Using Al for One Hour Uses the least energy
SOURCES FOR ENERGY COMPARISONS
AI ENERGY USE (BASELINE)
Elsworth et al. (2024), arXiv
“Median energy use per AI text prompt is approximately 0.24 Wh, comparable to only a few seconds of television viewing.”
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15734
VIDEO STREAMING VS AI
National Centre for AI (UK), Jisc
“Video streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube consume substantially more energy per hour of use than generative AI services.”
https://nationalcentreforai.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2025/05/02/artificial-intelligence-and-the-environment-putting-the-numbers-into-perspective/
NETFLIX / YOUTUBE / ZOOM COMPARISONS
Forbes, John Koetsier
“Streaming video and video conferencing services like Netflix, YouTube, and Zoom use significantly more energy per hour than typical AI interactions.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2025/12/03/new-data-ai-is-almost-green-compared-to-netflix-zoom-youtube/
DATA CENTER CONTEXT (AI IS A FRACTION OF TOTAL LOAD)
Pew Research Center
“AI workloads are only one portion of total data center electricity demand, which is dominated by video streaming, cloud services, and everyday online activity.”
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/24/what-we-know-about-energy-use-at-us-data-centers-amid-the-ai-boom/
GAMING AND HIGH-INTENSITY ONLINE SERVICES
Mucky Paws Analysis (compiled from industry energy data)
“Cloud gaming and high-performance PC gaming can consume orders of magnitude more electricity per hour than AI text-based services.”
https://muckypaws.com/2025/04/21/is-ai-really-the-energy-villain/
GENERAL CARBON / ENERGY CONTEXT
Sustainability by Numbers
“Per-query emissions from large language models are small compared to common digital activities such as streaming video or gaming.”
https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/carbon-footprint-chatgpt
why don’t people want data centers?