Kevin O’Leary garnered some mild praise for his performance in Marty Supreme, but people are less positive about his data centre plans.
Driving the news: O’Leary’s “Stratos” data centre project in Utah is drawing serious blowback from residents who are concerned that the facility — which, if built, will be two-and-a-half times the size of Manhattan — could have some negative effects on the local environment.
3,700 people filed protests with the state asking it to block the permit for the project, and hundreds showed up to a raucous local meeting where the proposal was debated — and ultimately approved.
Catch up: Stratos will consume nine gigawatts of power when fully operational (more than double Utah’s entire electricity consumption today) supplied by dedicated natural gas plants.
Critics say the heat produced by the facility would significantly raise local temperatures, devastate local wildlife, and turn fertile land owned by ranchers into an arid desert.
Why it matters: The backlash to O’Leary’s project is the latest flare-up of an issue that’s swiftly become a political lightning rod around the world — and one that threatens to become a major problem for the AI boom.
A sampling of the many objections people have levelled against data centres includes their tendency to push up electricity prices, increase emissions, generate noise pollution, and negatively impact the local environment.
But at least with current technology, progress on more powerful AI models depends on securing more computing power, which will necessitate a massive data centre buildout — McKinsey estimates spending on them will reach US$7 trillion by 2030.
Zoom out: Canadians are split when asked whether they support building data centres in general, but oppose them by a margin of more than two-to-one when asked if they’d support one in their community.
Our take: Some forecasts project demand for data centres to double by 2030. If that’s the case, the opposition to these projects is only going to grow, and this is almost certain to turn into a very hot political issue.
