Aqueducts and Data Centers

 Frontinus was a Roman Engineer who was one of the principals behind the building of the aqueducts. It is worth reading his works, htey provide insight to structures that have lasted 2000 years. 

Now a  union coordinator writes in the NY Times that electricians, especially union ones,  are a prime reason we should build data centers willy nilly across our suburbs. He does note:

The debate shouldn’t be data centers, yes or no. Instead, it should center on the rules and who enforces them. Over the years, the best operators I have worked with, CloudHQ, Equinix and Stack Infrastructure, have been genuinely responsive to community concerns, working hard to mitigate noise, improve aesthetics and invest in technologies that reduce environmental impacts. And yes, there are impacts. Innovation in energy and resource efficiency, though, is not just a reaction to criticism — it’s central to the industry’s success. Communities that partner with data centers on water-recycling systems, transparent power-purchase agreements and community benefit agreements that specify the host area’s gains before any permits are issued deliver real revenue and real jobs with manageable costs. Communities that allow developers to write their own rules have, predictably, suffered worse outcomes.

 Yes, the community should be involved. But the data center builders are rushing head strong into massive construction before any of the questions are even addressed. 

My father and brother were IBEW members and I worked along side my father.  The unions can be powerful entities for better or worse. But jobs alone are not the driver. 

Also for anyone who has ever built such facilities, I have, installation is but one step. Operations are different. The install jobs are transient, they do not last. Thus the argument has a fundamental fallacy. Operators want a few people as possible. Get the job done and move on. 

Oh, and yes, aqueducts were built by slaves! 

 As Sextus Julius Frontinus stated:

Still before us is the topic of maintenance of the conduits. But before I speak of this, a few comments should be set forth on the working-crew established for that purpose.  There are in fact two such crews, one belonging to the state, the other to Caesar. …Monies for the public crew are paid from the state treasury, an expense which is offset by revenue collected from properties associated with the water system: these consist of lands or buildings situated near the conduits, delivery-tanks, …or basins. … This income, close to 250,000 sesterces, had been lost to its intended purpose and credited to some other account;… but the Deified Nerva with a due sense of right restored it to the populace, and I have given painstaking attention to bringing it under fixed rules, that it might be entirely clear which places were subject to this tax. Caesar's crew receives monies from the imperial treasury, from which payments are also made for all lead and for all expenses relating to the conduits and delivery-tanks and basins. 

 Thus the problem has been with us for millennia. 

Who are these people?

 The NY Times has a piece written by a psychologist. Now I have taken one psych course in all my decades of academic pursuit and in my opinion this craft is not science. At best it is some amalgam of various tests from whence global assertions arise. The author asserts:

Data centers should be held to the same environmental standards as any other project. However, according to the researcher Andy Masley, giving up a lifetime of interacting with large language models would make a negligible difference in emissions compared with avoiding one trans-Atlantic flight or switching to a hybrid car. By his estimates, sending a prompt to ChatGPT is about as carbon-intensive as running a clothes dryer for a single second. Communities have long tolerated wasteful projects that take up tons of space, consume lots of natural resources and serve the whims of wealthier people. They’re called golf courses and backyards. The 14,000 golf courses across the United States used nearly 550 billion gallons of water in 2020, and the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Americans use over three trillion gallons of water on “landscape irrigation” each year. No one knows for sure how much water data centers use in total. One reasonable estimate from Brian Potter at the Institute for Progress put it at about 100 billion gallons in 2023. Even if the number of data centers increases tenfold, we may still end up using less water on artificial intelligence than we use to keep our grass springy.

Unlike the author I am on the one hand an engineer and on the other somewhat expert in medicine. I have studies water tables and the like, sound levels and their negative effects on humans and finally power systems and usage and related pollution. 

Data Centers violate all norms in these three areas. 

This author appears in my opinion to be one of these leftists who want everyone to live in NYCHA housing and have no back yards. Now I do not play golf, but am surrounded by golf courses. Input minus output is net accumulation. Rain and watering are inputs, watering and human use if output. Golf courses have excellent percolation, namely what comes out goes back in, less evaporation. But evaporation is made up by rainfall.

 These arguments are regurgitation of climate fears. but now in defense of massive structures using water, emitting noise and devouring electricity. In my opinion it is not worth listening to psychologists!

 

 

Data Centers: To Have or Have Not?

 We will attempt to examine data centers, those physical entities which are composed principally computer servers. I have heard some TV financial news reader prognosticate on date centers. It was clear that he was totally clueless. He was eschewing the New York ban. Of course whatever he said had no basis in reality. He was saying there would be tens of thousands of data centers, of millions of square feet each. Just a side note: if there are tens of thousands of data centers each using 10 GW of power that would be 100,000 GW needed. Now as a note, the US today uses 1,400 GW of power[1]. We would need nearly 100 times more than what the US uses this very day! And this guy is some alleged financial genius!

1         Definition

If one seeks to address the issue of data centers one must first define what they are. A typical data center is a massive physical facility which principally is composed of thousands of computer servers. In addition there are inputs and outputs of fiber optic data lines. In the servers or adjuncts to them are massive amounts of memory.

The data center hardware demands massive amount of electrical power, often well into the Giga watt levels. The power may be externally provided or self-provided. The power must have significant redundancy, so that if one source fails an instant switch to a secondary source can be made. Maintenance is a critical factor for with thousands of servers and millions of terabits of date anticipated failures demanding human interface as well as replacements must be available.

The data center also demands massive cooling. The GW input creates and similar amount of heat. Thus cooling is critical and may be accomplished by some balance of water cooling and air conditioning. The latter demands even more power and it can become a deadly circle.

The data center demands massive areas of land. Often in millions of square feet. Inside these massive plants, besides power and computers is billions of mile of interconnection.

Needless to say they also consume computers and memory. More of both than is contemplated in today’s manufacturing world.

2         Disadvantages

Water: Water is used for cooling. Leaving aside the overall thermodynamic issues, massive amounts of water are needed. This is often from the aquifer. It takes drinking water away from humans. Worse, the massive areas covers by the centers means rainfall does not get to percolate down to refill the aquifers! That means a death spiral for water table stability.

Power: From whence do these entities get the power demanded. They can build their own systems which consume massive amounts of hydrocarbons, with the ensuing sequellae, or they purchase from the grid, which is neither prepared for such distribution nor priced so as to not over price consumer services. The devil is in the details, and as best as possible, they have failed to examine these.

Noise: Running computers and environment systems, not to mention power systems creates massive amounts of noise. Noise is both aggravating but it can cause significant harm to individuals. No one has yet to measure these effects but alas they may be the dominant factor in harm.

Pollution: All of the above result in increased pollution.

Traffic: These facilities demand human interaction. Thus significant increases in traffic and resulting negative effects will ensue.

Abandonment: Finally, as history has shown, all too often the initial exuberance and build outs are excessive resulting in bankruptcies and abandonment of facilities. This means buildings and equipment left to rot on viable land, pollution resulting from the toxic materials used in the facilities, and loss of value to the land and local environment.

3         Needs

It is worth considering the actual needs for such facilities and systems. Currently we have an almost faddish use by many. No real economic need has been demonstrated. If one were to compare this to the deployment of PCs or of the Internet, in those cases immediate economic value was provided. However with AI to the consumer, there are lots of gimmicks but no clear value. Would one trust AI to be my medical provider? Hardly. Would I trust it to be my accountant? No way. Who shows up to the IRS, my laptop? Won’t work. Perhaps as a customer services interface, they can’t get any worse than what they are now!

4         Recommendations

My recommendations are simply:

1. Locations should be distant from any human locations and any areas that would cause negative impacts on natural plants and animals.

2. Power should be self-sourced and penalties for excess carbon emissions.

3. Water usage should be at a minimum.

4. Noise levels should be regulated.

5. Funds should be held in escrow in the case of abandonment so as to remedy potential toxic effects.

---

[1] https://www.publicpower.org/resource/americas-electricity-generating-capacity