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Data centre ‘misinformation’ has overblown concerns, MSPs told (news.stv.tv)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/scotland@lemmy.world
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9GW worth in planning. Just phenomenally stupid. I vote we put them next to Balmoral and on Trump's golf courses and see what is said then

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[–] 7 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Scotland has an abundance of renewable energy

The 9 GW of datacentres that have apparently been applied for in planning would consume well over all of Scotland's total renewable energy output. Literally all of it.

Also consider that we still have substantial things needing decarbonised as soon as possible, like transport. We can reasonably expect more of that "overabundance" to be used in the near future.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 day ago (5 children)

    As the article points out, most of that is companies trying it on with no real intention of following through. the current total data centre capacity in the UK is ~2GW with another 0.8GW under construction. There's no realistic prospect of 9GW of them being built in Scotland.

    Also the argument that "too much of them would be bad" applies to almost everything, and isn't a reason to allow none of them, regulation exists and should be used!

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    And how much of the 9GW do you reckon they actually want to build? The guy representing the datacentre companies does not say. Even if it's only a third or a quarter of them, that's a ludicrous drain on a resource that, as the article also points out, is not actually in overabundance

    The argument I'm making is not "too much is bad, therefore there must be none". There's even a proposal for a power cap on them in the article. Byt these companies have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to ride roughshod over the rest of society at every opportunity. We should not extend them any trust beyond what we have ironclad control over.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 day ago* (2 children)

    We should not extend them any trust beyond what we have ironclad control over.

    I agree, but that shouldn't imply building none. I don't want us to be reliant on using data centres in the USA or China who can then use the prospect of cutting that off as leverage. I have no idea how much is reasonable but I am confident it is more than 0 and less than 9GW.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

    The argument I'm making is not "too much is bad, therefore there must be none". There's even a proposal for a power cap on them in the article

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  • [–] 0 points 1 day ago

    That's fair, I wasn't aiming that at you specifically but at the general atmosphere of All data centres are bad and must be stopped, as is visible in the headline image of the article and the other comments in this thread.

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