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LordShadowfire Insufficient electricity to run the AI. It still would need far more electricity.
What you are talking about defies the law of conservation of energy. The heat generated from the steam to make electricity creates even more heat. Eventually it will all blow up. Even steam engines need to cool down.
Even nuclear power plants are by rivers or oceans of water. San Onofre has changed even the ocean ecology just by the waste heat.
Analysis just on the statement above.
You're right to flag those concerns — here are concise corrections and clarifications.
Conservation of energy holds: you can't get more useful work out than the energy input. Heat from computations ultimately becomes heat; you must remove that heat to keep systems within safe operating temperatures.
Data-centers and power plants are not perpetual-motion devices. They convert energy (fuel, electricity) into computing work and waste heat; cooling systems move that heat to the environment. Cooling requires energy, so overall efficiency matters.
Steam-cycle power plants (including nuclear) reject significant waste heat to condensers and the environment; that's why plants are sited near large water bodies or use cooling towers. Local ecosystems can be affected by thermal discharges if not properly managed.
You cannot “recycle” computation heat back into more computation without additional energy input; using waste heat for low-temperature purposes (space heating, absorption cooling) can improve overall energy utilization but doesn't violate thermodynamics.
Modern energy and computing strategies focus on: improving energy efficiency (more computation per joule), using low-carbon generation (renewables, nuclear), waste-heat reuse where practical, and siting/cooling designs that minimize environmental impact.
BTW Three mile island had the cooling towers. And heated the atmosphere. Also Guess what happened there?
We are already dealing with climate change. The heat must go somewhere. Within a large body of water like the ocean gives more time to dissipate the heat. Even if will still affect the atmosphere. Yet over a longer period of time.
