Data centers are big buildings full of machines that process what we do on our phones and computers.
AI requires even more computing power, so companies are eager to build more data centers.
The usual suspects are freaking out.
“We must stop it!” says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.).
“Slow it down!” demands Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.).
Data centers do use lots of power and water to cool them down because their computers generate heat. One center can use as much power and water as a small town.
“Uses resources like a madman!” says one protester in my new video.
Last year, protesters blocked or stalled at least 48 projects.
One fired 13 bullets at an Indiana politician’s home because he supports data centers.
Now AOC and Bernie Sanders have introduced a bill that will pause new center construction.
That’s just dumb.
“If our economy was allowed to develop at the speed of Bernie Sanders, we would be significantly worse off,” says Paige Lambermont of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
“If we slow down, other countries are not going to. You’re going to be getting the authoritarian Chinese version of AI rather than the United States innovators’ version of AI.”
She downplays fears about rising electricity prices.
So far, “it’s raised prices nowhere,” adds Lambermont. “Prices in Virginia are rising more slowly than some other places, even though more data centers are in Northern Virginia than anywhere else.”
The Institute for Energy Research found “no statistically significant relationship between data center concentration and faster increases in electricity rates.”
Still, as demand for AI increases, there will be price increases. But that’s mostly because short-sighted politicians have limited our use of the most efficient fuels, like natural gas and nuclear power, favoring wind and solar power.
“If we hadn’t done that,” says Lambermont, “we probably would have between 100 and 200 gigawatts of slack capacity in the power grid already.”
Part of the problem: Government rules that say only government, or a government-approved business, may produce and sell power.
And government’s monopolies are unbelievably slow.
Microsoft now suffers from that because it struck a deal with Constellation Energy to reopen the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island.
The renovated plant will be able to produce power next year, but our government won’t allow Microsoft to use that power until other utilities build power lines in other states—often hundreds of miles away.
Government rules stop so much progress.
A company could avoid burdensome rules by building a plant for itself, off the grid.
Elon Musk did that, setting up gas turbines to power his supercomputer in Tennessee.
“If you’re Elon Musk, you can build your own,” notes Lambermont, “but most people can’t afford to build a gas or nuclear plant.”
Even if they could, why would they invest billions when the next politicians in power might be socialist luddites?
“No one wants to invest [billions] in something that the next presidential administration could come in and say, ‘Actually, it’s been illegal the whole time,'” sighs Lambermont.
Some in Congress now want to make building off-grid power easier.
“You can do new and interesting things if you’re running your own thing and making your own rules.” says Lambermont. “That’s pretty much how every major technological advance we’ve had in other areas has come about. It’s never been the government that comes up with the advancement. It’s usually private actors doing interesting things and trying to figure out what works….[Data centers] are resource intensive, but so are most productive things we’ve done in human history.”
Usually, productive things happen only when government gets out of the way.
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