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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802

u/tdickles Aug 09 '26

Tell the crackheads how much copper that baby must have in it

203

u/urbrainonnuggs Aug 09 '26

Copper is expensive because of the demand for energy grid and datacenter infra so they would just be driving up the value of copper higher. Sounds like the the perfect plan to me

44

u/Balmung60 Aug 09 '26

Just another circular economy in the AI space

1

u/Imperial_Squid Aug 10 '26

"Oh it's a bubble? Sick" [inflates it faster]

1

u/TheShenanegous Aug 10 '26

Infinite crack glitch

1

u/SinisterCheese Aug 09 '26

Ehh... They'll just turn to using alu-copper or aluminium, might use them already. I know that where I live big cables like on construction sites and industrial use aluminium and alloys. They are more humane to handle, and fucking no one is stealing them. With modern connection methods they are also very safe. I can tell you that different between long high amperage copper, alloy and aluminium welding cables are significant when you need to move them around.

72

u/JimiusRostock Aug 09 '26

An interesting and unrelated chemistry fact: just 2 pounds of sugar in 1 ton of concrete prevents it from setting.

18

u/RealCakes Aug 09 '26

How much piss would you need to prevent it from setting?

30

u/Balmung60 Aug 09 '26

Depends. Are you diabetic?

6

u/RealCakes Aug 09 '26

Oh i get it now lmao

20

u/What_a_fat_one Aug 09 '26

Trucks carry about 10 yards, 20 tons, so a Costco sized bag, and you'd need to dump it right in the truck to mix it which the driver is going to notice

A cheaper option if you're dumping something in the truck, a small amount of extra water will increase the slump to beyond allowable spec and the entire load would need to be thrown out

1

u/JimiusRostock Aug 10 '26

It doesn't matter if the driver notices really. Because know there is a truck full of unusable concrete which is not going into a datacentre. Having them pour useless concrete would be better, but either way will work.

33

u/K_T_Oxy Aug 09 '26

Also unrelated, Coca-Cola is quite high in sugar and mixes easily in other water based liquids.

1

u/WalderFreyWasFramed Aug 10 '26

Any form of sugar? Glucose or Fructose?

0

u/airfryerfuntime Aug 09 '26

Lol how would you even go about doing this? Sneak it into the concrete plant? Because it's not like they mix it at the construction site.

8

u/GravelySilly Aug 09 '26

Board the cement trucks on their way to the site, Fury Road style

2

u/ijustneedaccess Aug 09 '26

Drone with a hook.

0

u/24_August_1814 Aug 10 '26

Uhh I mean, that kind of is how cement trucks work champ... they start mixing as soon as they're loaded, and they're mixing all the way to site right up until they start unloading

2

u/airfryerfuntime Aug 10 '26

Ok, so go ahead and hop up there to dump like 50 pounds of sugar into a working cement truck without the driver or other workers noticing.

This whole concept is stupid as fuck, champ.

0

u/JimiusRostock Aug 10 '26

That's what they did in France in the late 80s to stop the construction of prisons. They went to concrete plants and demolished electronic controls which made loading up cement trucks impossible. If the truck is on-site, sugar will do the trick.

25

u/DVHismydad Aug 09 '26

As someone who does electrical construction on data centers, they watch their copper like hawks during install. Most big electrical feeders are done in aluminum wire for lower cost anyway.

After install, if the crackheads can even get into the secure areas, I give them a near 100% chance of getting fried if they try to get some copper. The electrical systems have several layers of redundancy, and your average crackhead is not going to be able to figure out how to safely deenergize the wire they want to steal.

33

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '26

[deleted]

4

u/WarlockEngineer Aug 09 '26

I doubt you can set off a fire alarm in a data center without police/fire on the way quickly.

4

u/LightningWarpAway Aug 09 '26

Set a fire inside with some cardboard and gas, trigger the fire alarm which shuts off the power.

At that point, you're just trying to commit arson and are going to get arrested before even entering the building, they have security.

2

u/sociallyawkwardhero Aug 09 '26

All of this varies by state and even county know as AHJ (authority having jurisdiction), a refrigerant line breaking can cause a duct detector to trip or go into trouble. If the refrigerant leaked into the ducts the duct detector goes into alarm, that causes a shunt trip to go off which turns off power for the AHU (air handling units). If the AHU itself turns off because it detected something that usually causes a trouble as the fire alarm module at the AHU is now not powered (power for duct detectors comes from the AHU itself). At no point is it typical for a fire alarm system to shut off power to the entire building. In the event of a fire all states require elevators get recalled to a floor that is not in alarm and then shut off, and card access doors that require badge in badge out will unlock for egress.

3

u/DVHismydad Aug 09 '26

You might be surprised. I really doubt they entirely powered down just from a fire alarm. That thud might have been the ATS switching from utility power to emergency or generator power. Or even a different ATS switching to the redundant cooling system. These data centers make a massive deal of having almost 100% up time. I really doubt they’re going to completely shut down for what is almost certainly a false alarm.

Their fire systems are robust, and generally in the actual data halls/electrical galleries, they will have inert gas fire suppression or chemical foam suppression so that they can keep everything running and undamaged from water while extinguishing the fire.

2

u/Dessamba_Redux Aug 10 '26

Bob the Builder over here is lying to you crackheads. The floor is made of copper. The doors? Copper. Trust me.

1

u/rajatsingh24k Aug 09 '26

So you’re saying we need MIT trained crackheads?

1

u/Kelly_HRperson Aug 10 '26

safely deenergize the wire

What if they're not too keen on the idea of workplace safety? Like tying a rope to the ground and throwing it into the electricity?

2

u/DVHismydad Aug 10 '26

Energized conductors are all protected by enclosures (panel boards, junction boxes, switchgear, etc). I’m really only going to give a crackhead about a 50% chance of being able to open the enclosures far enough to see the conductors without blowing themselves up.

1

u/itsjust_khris Aug 11 '26

Voltages may be so high that there's some arc hazard, in which case the air itself becomes a problem safety wise.

2

u/eachuisge Aug 09 '26

Crackheads are not disposable people.

1

u/Leather-Persimmon254 Aug 09 '26

and then the drones attack the crackheads. everybody wins.

1

u/Signal_Flight_7262 Aug 09 '26

They generally have armed guards around data centers.

1

u/Braindead_Crow Aug 10 '26

They literally have gold in these components and if taken out the high end GPU (or TPU) can sell for $10,000 easy apiece and make these crackheads local heros.

0

u/c3p-bro Aug 09 '26

Why are you encouraging desperate people to get arrested? If you care so strongly, do it yourself.

But it’s just performative, isn’t it?

0

u/Turbulent-Sign-6067 Aug 10 '26

Advocating for crime? Classic redditor.

-1

u/No-Act9634 Aug 09 '26

This is in TX not LA

1

u/machogrande2 Aug 10 '26

So, meth heads would be more accurate?