this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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If you place a data center in a 100% green location, then you're reducing the supply of 100% energy, so everything else has to consume less green energy. Therefore, by using 100% green energy you just increased your carbon footprint.
Green energy, like all resources, is limited. If you waste it on a glorified food predictor you can't use it on a electric harvester that will feed the people.
Even if you want to avoid this problem and create your own green power plant for your own data center (creating the green supply and demand at the same time), you are still spending green energy resources (rare metals and manufacturing capacity) that went into creating your powerplant instead of creating a powerplant for electric harvesters.
There's no way around it. Misusing electricity is accelerating climate change, one way or another. Even if the energy you are misusing is 100% green.