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On January 14, President Joe Biden issued a Presidential order to the Ministry of Defense, so that private companies could use land to build a Gigaat scale “Frontier” AI data center. He also instructed the internal department to identify a public site site for developing “clean energy” to move these centers, and was rationalized for power projects and relevant power transmission lines. I asked for permission.
On the same day, the Biden administration began a process of withdrawing public land over 300,000 acras from a new mining for the Amalgosa valley in Nevada and mineral leasing, and protected from future lithium mining and the development of commentary energy.
The two initiative are completely contrasting to each other. In one case, Biden provided a federal land to the construction of not only solar, wind power, geothermal, and even nuclear facilities, but also energy and water collection data centers. Meanwhile, he tried to protect the land of the federal from similar energy development.
The Biden administration is now behind us, indicating that this kind of contradiction is a rule, not his term. He released Keystone XL Pipeline, raised excavation restrictions in the Arctic Cancer, and leased a less land for drilling oil and gas than his former president. Permian basin like a candy at the parade on July 4th. With the establishment of Ave Kwa Ame and Chuckwalla National Monuments, he has maintained a clean energy developer exploiting those parts of Mojave Desert. Trees and end extinction ED species desert turtles.
I argue that this obvious contradiction is intentional and reflects the late Jimmy Carter’s strategy. Both presidents protected the vast band of public land and defended environmental initiatives. At the same time, they implicitly specify the sacrifice zone by permitting and encouraging some federal land, as if such sacrifice was needed to protect other places. did. Both politicians bring public interests to their hearts when they offer public land, Carter strives to reach the constant goal of energy independence, and Biden has a large -scale regeneration as a solution to climate change. I stuck to possible energy.
Biden seemed to believe that promoting data centers will achieve a greater profit than AI’s “rapid growth with national security.”
Biden seemed to believe that promoting data centers will achieve a greater profit than AI’s “rapid growth with national security.” However, high -tech companies do not seem to need “common” discussions to encourage projects. After all, the data center has germinated on private land with minimal resistance for many years, even in dry places, such as Las Vegas and Phoenix. The center also appears in the northwestern part of hydroelectric power generation, which requires less water and energy by cooling the equipment.
As his achievements, Biden acknowledged the oversized energy knees of these data centers. A single AI query uses about 10 times the power of Google search, and even a traditional search engine is not an error in energy. Edison Power Research Institute has now discovered that the data center is consuming more than 150 hours every year. This is enough to power hundreds of millions of houses, throwing about 15 % of power supply nationwide by 2030.
Due to the growth of this sudden demand, public works have maintained, delayed, and even canceled some coal and nuclear power plants, while competing to develop other energy sources. I’m in a hurry to do. High -tech giants such as meta and Amazon have acquired the overall generative capacity of the solar, wind power, and geothermal installation of utility scales, and in some cases developing a unique fleet of advanced reactors in partnership with other entities. And all the hungry AI beasts are nurtured.
Biden’s order is to place public land on the menu as long as the energy source is “clean”. This is a category that contains sun, wind, hydro, geothermal, and nuclear power. Those carbon emissions are captured and isolated. Theoretically, companies, along with the transmission line on the federal land transmission line with a federal land transmission line, with a “clean” power plant with a “clean” power plant of a utility scale or a power plant equipped with a power plant equipped with a carbon capture device. It means that it can be built. Pass the typical environmental review process.
Disposal of such a public land sets a dangerous precedent, no matter how noble the cause is.
Somewhat doubtful movements, such as the approval of the WILLOW project in Biden, could be considered a sizzling bidding to acquire the support of the petroleum industry. However, the timing of this presidential decree is that he comes just a week before he has left his political life, and proves that his motivation is sincere. AI is a powerful tool with great potential, from medical diagnosis to huge datasets. Also, who exercises it can cause great harm. Biden did his best to reduce the effects of data center energy at least by demanding developers to build their own climate -friendly energy equipment.
However, disposing of such public land sets dangerous precedents, no matter how noble the cause is. In particular, considering that the Trump administration decides who will build these projects and where they are “clean”, without a few concerns. Regardless of the good intentions of Biden and the possibility of AI, the biggest beneficiaries here are corporate high -tech giants and their human masters, that is, mask, Zuckerberg, Besos, and Altman.
These are exactly the same people as Biden warned us in a goodbye speech. A fair shot for everyone to move forward. Our public land reminds me that it is not exploited only to nourish it, but should be useful as a buffer against OLI heads.
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