How much electricity will be needed to power Microsoft’s new $80 billion AI system?

Photo above - So easy a caveman could figure it out? How much extra electricity is needed for both EVs and exponentially expanding AI data centers?

$80 Billion is A LOT. That’s how much Microsoft is spending on new AI data centers in 2025 alone. (see link below). What could you buy with that instead? 250 Boeing 747s, and start your own airline. 2 million Teslas. The entire nation of Costa Rica. (Zillow estimate, based on Google Street view images.)

Wait . . . come back to that other one. TWO MILLION TESLAS???!!! Holy Mohammed!

Okay . . . someone is going to produce reply with a link to a photo showing solar panels on the roof of some Microsoft building. Nuh-uh. I’m not buying it. There is NO WAY to get that much electric power power. Solar panels generate 150 watts per square meter, under ideal conditions. Which excludes cloudy days, dawn, dusk, and night. An average size data center sucks up 1.3 megawatts of electricity continuously, 24/7. Those rooftop solar panels are mostly props. Maybe they power the lights in the parking lot?

Someone else is going to produce a link showing that Google, Microsoft, and Amazon want to build private nuclear power plants. If you’re not even MORE alarmed at this, you need to watch the HBO “Chernobyl” mini-series. Or the recent documentaries about Fukushima. The plant is STILL leaking 300 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean daily. The fish we eat all have extra background radiation now, because of one Japanese earthquake.

Microsoft says there will (eventually) be a silver lining. But probably not in 2025. In the meantime, they admit their $80 Billion science project “will disrupt the economy and displace some jobs" (exact quote).

There were 1 million EVs sold in 2023. Almost all of those need to be plugged into a grid powered by fossil fuels too. Will successive generations look back at today’s mashup of insatiable AI electricity demand, and exponential EV sales as being “so dumb a caveman could have figured it out?”

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Microsoft is spending $80 billion on data centers this year

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PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

AI is the new Web 3. A scam by and large. We are already hitting a wall in terms of massive energy waste and diminishing returns.

It is also already showing flaws that can't really be fixed. It is great at spouting out responses based on massive amounts of data (most of it stolen based on IP law) but has no way of verifying the quality of the data used. Junk in, and junk out.

LeopoldBloom · M

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Worse than that, some of the language AI is learning from is just other AI.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@LeopoldBloom how is this any different than the left wing or right wing echo chambers people online flock to?

joe438 · 61-69, M

We’re being lied to and led down a path covered with rose petals that will be seen as fake paper ones. Electricity is not free. The promise that we’ll all be better off with this technology is already proving to be a lie if you notice that cities are already regulating when you can and can’t charge your cars and run air conditioners.

JSul3 · 70-79

Well, you could check out the huge bitcoin mining facility in Granbury, TX.....uses a ton of electricity and is making residents sick.

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JSul3 · 70-79

@SusanInFlorida Gov. Abbott did it to prove he brought businesses to Texas...but ignores the impact on the already strained grid, and could care less about the health and safety of Texans.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@JSul3 no question the texas grid is "strained". they bought all those wind turbines under the theory that harsh winters are a thing of the past. then that "once in a century freeze" a couple of years ago stopped them in their tracks.

they're running out of options. the variable weather makes the state less than ideal for turbines, solar panels, and gulf oil drilling is now off limits. if they're not careful they could end up like California, scrambling to buy electricity on the spot market at rip-off prices.

JSul3 · 70-79

@SusanInFlorida When you refuse to perform the necessary preventive maintenance and upgrades on the grid, you risk failure, which is exactly what happened a few years ago that cost a number of Texans their lives.

ERCOT has already warned citizens on this current extreme weather. We shall see how well the grid performs.

MarkPaul · 26-30, M

If every home churned their own butter, imagine how much money could be saved by eliminating trips to the market for store-bought butter not to mention all the electricity used to produce commercial-grade butter.

Why build for the future when you can stand in place and fictitiously save a ton of money by not advancing?

Crazywaterspring · 61-69, M

It depends on how much local and state governments are willing to give these wildly successful companies. Big business in Texas doesn't do anything without a handout from Abbott, Paxton, Patrick and Co.

The power supply is shaky except for data centers and crypto miners. They receive preferential treatment.

DonaldTrumpet · 70-79, M

HuNz itZ all The WimenZ onlYfanZ accuntZ takiNGz of phoTOz ands VideoEZ of TiTtiEz anZ azzess

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