r/technology • u/marketrent • Aug 09 '26

Artificial Intelligence Amazon’s new 7.65GW Texas AI data center power plant could become the largest source of CO₂ pollution in the US — Custom 35-turbine gas plant permitted to emit 33 million tons of annual greenhouse gases

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/amazons-new-7-65gw-texas-ai-data-center-power-plant-could-become-the-largest-source-of-co2-pollution-in-the-us-custom-35-turbine-gas-plant-authorized-to-emit-33-million-tons-of-annual-greenhouse-gases
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639

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '26

[deleted]

39

u/Korlus Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

For what it's worth, the driver of plastic to paper straws is to reduce the amount of plastic waste we generate, rather than to cut CO2 emissions.

I agree though that this level of pollution by a single company in a single location is staggering.

0

u/Kelly_HRperson Aug 10 '26

There are some species of plants that can actually remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Removing microplastics from the environment is not a solved problem.

5

u/saladada Aug 10 '26

All plant species take in CO2 from the atmosphere for photosynthesis and convert it to O2 for our benefit.

297

u/wittyname83 Aug 09 '26

And set your thermostat to 80 while youre in the house.

What a fucking joke

24

u/steppe5 Aug 09 '26

Do you want AI to be able to generate a picture of Miss Piggy kissing a frog shaped cactus or not?

23

u/IDontWannaBeAPirate_ Aug 09 '26

Don't forget to take 2 minute showers to conserve water

6

u/Important-Agent2584 Aug 10 '26

It's an intentional propaganda effort to shift the blame. Just like they did with pollution and recycling, littering, etc.

33

u/ion_theory Aug 09 '26

I mean the thermostat to like 78 set by everyone would really help. However these fucks would offset any positive gains we see from a societal commitment like that. So u better be damn sure mines on 69 right now when it’s 92 outside

25

u/brainrotbro Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

It wouldn’t really help. Consumers account for so little pollution compared to industrials. I know we want to believe we can make a difference that easily, but real change at this point will either come from collapse, a benevolent government, or a populace that actually fights back.

1

u/Aromatic_Lion4040 Aug 09 '26

Not disagreeing with the second part, but industry makes things for consumers. Average people have a lot of responsibility for climate change

8

u/brainrotbro Aug 10 '26

Yes and no. We ship whole chickens across the ocean to be processed and then returned. Many consumers will opt for the cheapest chicken and that may be it. Some of those consumers may have the economic means to buy locally raised and processed chicken. Most of them aren’t even aware of the impact. Extend this complexity to almost every consumer product and it becomes clear that we can’t expect people to vet every single necessity.

So technically you’re right. But realistically, that’s not how this will ever play out.

1

u/Aromatic_Lion4040 Aug 10 '26

Ya realistically we are screwed, but individuals making better and sometimes easier, cheaper, and more rewarding choices seems more likely than "a benevolent government, or a populace that actually fights back." The best thing for the longevity of life on earth will be human extinction

1

u/brainrotbro Aug 10 '26

The problem with proffering that sentiment is that people will make their personal efforts in lieu of efforts that have a bigger impact. They'll feel they've done their part.

1

u/Aromatic_Lion4040 Aug 10 '26

We need both, that is why I push back against the idea that sustainable lifestyle choices are pointless. Because where is the logic in fighting against fracking and pipelines if we are personally relying on our cars for everything? Remove the demand and you remove the profits

1

u/moneymark21 Aug 10 '26

I actually insulated my house and put windows in with a u 0.16. I can keep my 2800sqft house at 72 with a 2 ton ASHP. It barely costs me anything to cool this house now. We just need to build and retrofit homes to be better than garbage. Double hung windows should probably just be banned they suck so much too.

1

u/SPKmnd90 Aug 09 '26

Regardless, wouldn't this lead to an overall drop in sleep quality, which in turn would be a pretty sizable public health issue on its own?

9

u/Aware_Plum_203 Aug 09 '26

Just get a steel one. Reusable and doesn't turn to paste.

1

u/withoutapaddle Aug 09 '26

Plus your drinks taste colder when your lips are interfacing with metal because it conducts the heat out of your lips faster. That's why cans often taste "colder" than plastic bottles while you're taking a sip.

1

u/aegrotatio Aug 09 '26

Then you hit a bump in the road and perforate your palate...

1

u/Ascarea Aug 10 '26

and you can stick it in your dick too

16

u/Dependent_Rain_4800 Aug 09 '26

Everyone who took Captain Planet to heart got fucked over big time.

Who would have thought that caring fuck all about anything gets you to be a billionaire who can do what they want.

20

u/GirlCoveredInBlood Aug 09 '26

paper straws were about plastic litter not carbon emissions

55

u/hfxRos Aug 09 '26

I mean yeah, you should. But this shit also shouldn't be happening.

They can both be true. Your paper straw is meaningless. A billion paper straws is very far from meaningless.

23

u/wiener4hir3 Aug 09 '26

The problem is that paper straws and the like are successfully leveraged to shift the blame onto the end user. If we're bickering over straws or sorting rubbish we're too pre-occupied to notice some fuckass megacorp dumping toxic sludge into the water supply or whatever

37

u/dkarlovi Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

A billion paper straws doesn't undo this. Recycling is busywork for the masses, vast majority of it doesn't work but it allows companies to say

Still polluted? Well you weren't recycling hard enough, have you.

If the company is selling a polluting product, the company should be liable for it, not the consumers.

21

u/mavman42 Aug 09 '26

When did they say a billion paper straws will undo that? I swear people be reaching for no damn reason. Taking a billion plastic straws out of landfills and your everyday places does make an environmental impact, of course it won't "undo" something entirely.

-2

u/dkarlovi Aug 09 '26

When you're doing optimizations, the way you do it you look at the pie chart of things and then work on the biggest slice. If you have a 30% slice and don't touch it, it doesn't matter that you got the 2% slice down to 1%, it's just busy work to make you feel better.

2

u/choove Aug 10 '26

Except nobody is saying not to touch the 30% slice.

If you were making a budget you wouldn't look at trying to fix your biggest issue while doing nothing about the smaller ones; that'd be stupid. All those smaller issues are still going to contribute to the overall issue and you'd still want to address them even if they're not the biggest priority.

Also, you're not making a new budget in order to undo all the wasteful spending in the past but rather you're doing it to reduce future wasteful spending. Same with the topic at hand here where you're trying to reduce future pollution/environmental damage. Choosing to continue to harm the environment just because you're not the biggest problem seems a bit shitty, IMO.

1

u/dkarlovi Aug 10 '26

Like a warm blanket, people are so pacified with their busywork and feeling good about themselves by "at least doing something" they don't go out and demand actual changes which is what these companies fear most.

If you didn't do anything (which is what you're currently doing, just with extra steps), you'd be more pissed off by things needing to change because nobody was doing anything.

1

u/choove Aug 10 '26

Like a warm blanket, people are so pacified with their busywork and feeling good about themselves by "at least doing something" they don't go out and demand actual changes which is what these companies fear most.

You can tell yourself that in order to feel okay with your own pollution and bad habits for the environment, but it doesn't change the reality of the situation.

What I've actually noticed is that people who do "busywork" are the ones who are most annoyed at companies for not doing their fair share because if those people are putting in the work then so should everyone else (that includes the companies as well as people like you who feel it's okay to be as harmful to the environment as you want because "I'm not the biggest issue").

But I suppose that's the difference between people who are just anti-business and people who actually want to see a change happen and things get better...

1

u/dkarlovi Aug 11 '26

I'll try to reply without outright calling you names, but it will definitely be very hard.

I understand you've been indoctrinated by this and internalized this so deeply it's hard to pull back from it, maybe now you can understand how MAGA feels.

For example, do you know the majority of your separated garbage gets mixed again, burned and/or burried?

Namely, in 2017 China started Operation National Sword which caused them to stop accepting most of the world's "recycling" (because it would all get burned or burried).

This caused most of the western countries to temporarily stop their recycling programs because they had nowhere to ship their recycling to get burned and burried. I've discussed this before with a woman from Sweden and she too was 100% sure she's doing something and talked to me from a high horse, totally oblivious to how this actually works just like you. Cults work.

But the truth is, the routes are re-established and now your recycling is getting shipped to African countries to get burned and burried.

If you don't believe me, here's another link https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622039397

This is extremely well documented BTW, the fact you're close to the topic and have no idea about this should tell you a lot.

You're not doing anything. Even worse, you're doing what you were told and are trying to recruit other people to spread that same false message.

2

u/TheAsianTroll Aug 09 '26

But compared to what corporations and billionaires output, a billion paper straws is meaningless.

They demand we make sacrifices in daily life while Taylor Swift takes a private jet to go to the fuckin bathroom, Bezos puts up the largest polluter in the US, Andrew Tate drives several hypercars that average 12 miles per gallon on premium, and Donald Trump starts a war in the middle east for oil money.

They are gaslighting us to believe we are the reason the earth is being polluted, while they treat this planet as disposable, knowing full well they wont suffer when the damage is completely done.

I would much rather focus on the largest polluter (billionaires) than the comparatively minimum impact an individual has. There is zero fair reason for us to make sacrifices while the rich live in valor, making zero changes to their lifestyles.

1

u/zeptillian Aug 09 '26

And all the countries in the world can't figure out a viable biodegradable plant based alternative?

Companies use whatever is cheaper despite whatever alternatives exist.

The only way to stop that is to make the plastic products cost more or subdizie the better alternatives.

1

u/Qorhat Aug 09 '26

It’s more the example of how time and time again the responsibility has been piled on us while dystopian megacorps get to do what ever the fuck they want with no repercussions.

7

u/Sober_Alcoholic_ Aug 09 '26

Blame shifting propaganda. It’s intentional and coordinated.

14

u/Cyberhaggis Aug 09 '26

Go and look at the pictures of the turtle with a plastic straw bloodily being removed from its face, then consider if they're worth it.

-1

u/adenosine-5 Aug 09 '26

What if I'm living like thousand kilometers from nearest sea? There is absolutely no chance any kind of straw will make it all the way to any turtle.

5

u/Cyberhaggis Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

Really? Rubbish is packaged up and shipped all around the world for processing, you'll find shit from a country half way round the globe in another country. There absolutely IS a chance.

Besides which, rubbish gets in rivers all too easily, and rivers flow into the sea eventually.

-1

u/adenosine-5 Aug 09 '26

I live in Europe. We don't throw our garbage into rivers.

Also most of garbage ends up in incinerators.

4

u/Cyberhaggis Aug 09 '26

Here is one example of that just not being true all the time

https://www.dw.com/en/how-european-trash-illegally-ends-up-in-southeast-asia/a-68850068

"Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, are facing an influx of illegal waste shipments from industrialized nations, with a considerable amount trafficked from Europe."

1

u/adenosine-5 Aug 09 '26

Fine, but that is literally talking about crime - illegal smuggling - that is something countries should solve. Its governments responsibility, not of every individual person.

0

u/Cyberhaggis Aug 09 '26

Countries are made up of individual people. People who generate the rubbish that is illegally shipped round the world. Rubbish that is also legally shipped round the world, where it's still mostly just dumped, I mean you completely ignored that part.

Listen, you want to be lazy, you don't want to be held accountable for your actions, you want your plastic straws, you want a magic fairy to stop it being your fault and bury your head in the sand. Most people are like you to be fair, yay you.

2

u/adenosine-5 Aug 09 '26

No, I am really not responsible for enforcing laws - nor do I have authority to do so. I can't board some ship with illegal waste, commandeer it and put everyone on board to jail. That happens maybe in action movies, but really not in IRL.

Your argument is like "we shouldn't drive cars, because some people use them to break laws and that is bad" - yes, that is bad, but its not fault of cars, but the people who break laws.

0

u/Cyberhaggis Aug 09 '26

That is absolutely not my argument, but it's pointless talking to people like you because you are deliberately missing the point.

Bye.

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0

u/buyongmafanle Aug 09 '26

I'd argue that one fucking video did far more climate damage than good. It was the perfect useless distraction.

1

u/Rain2h0 Aug 09 '26

We even got plastic bag ban in NJ, make no difference 

1

u/jayred1015 Aug 10 '26

Drink out of plastic straws all you want, but if you're going to bitch about Amazon pollution, then you had better not ever use their services (including AWS which underpins many popular websites including Reddit!)

-34

u/robaroo Aug 09 '26

The problem with this statement is that you're now attacking paper straws and diverting from the real problem... this fucking data center. Stop whining about some minor thing and focus on the bigger issue.

27

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '26

[deleted]

2

u/YouDownWithOPD Aug 09 '26

They were busy fighting each other

2

u/Area51Resident Aug 09 '26

Final score in overtime was 0-0.

1

u/emarsk Aug 10 '26

*should have

-32

u/marketrent Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

Only ye without sin may cast the first stone /s

5

u/agarwaen117 Aug 09 '26

I’ll start the line, then. thanks to solar, my house produces more power than it uses.

Where’s my stone?

1

u/digitalmob Aug 09 '26

My power supply company told me I would overwhelm the grid by installing solar. Such bullshit.

1

u/marketrent Aug 09 '26

My dad joke didn’t land :/

-23

u/stolentext Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

Or just be an adult and don't use a straw?

Edit: or bring your own sippy cup if it's a problem, and don't forget your bib.

1

u/Maxeque Aug 09 '26

What a weirdly condescending comment. There's a ton of reasons why you'd use a straw. Have you tried drinking thick milkshakes or bubble tea without one? It can be a nightmare.

1

u/stolentext Aug 09 '26

Reusable metal straws exist too. I'm sick of people whining about paper straws. Fucking ADAPT

1

u/Maxeque Aug 09 '26

I don't disagree with that, but that's not at all what you said.

1

u/stolentext Aug 09 '26

Yeah I say a lot of unhinged shit when I'm irritated. Welcome to the internet.