Full title: Microsoft is using wetlands and native gardens to ‘camouflage’ 20-plus data center sites by blending them into nature — critics blast the ‘biomimicry’ effort as ‘lipstick on a pig’ amid a 20-year gas power deal
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you mean camouflaging so it doesn’t get identified to be vandalized, sabotaged or protested from, much like they did with some corporate farms to hide abuse.
all this to power windows 11 AI slop, and some government mass surveillance tech.
Bruh. Attack the actual problems. there really are enough of them. No need to attack the only good point.
I wished every industry would “camouflage” their factories like that.IIRC Microsoft built huge wind farms south of Chicago off of i55 to help power their data centers a couple decades ago, part of their carbon neutral plans or something similar.
Since when does toms hardware give my computer aids? Oh how the mighty have fallen.
A tale as old as time. Forestry has been doing this forever: clear-cutting where the public can’t see it and keeping forests near roads pristine.
Once again: the problem isn’t Microsoft or the datacenter builders. It’s the governments approving these projects in the first place. Regulation is the only fix. Companies will rape and pillage unless we collectively choose to stop them.
Regulation through government won’t do jack shit because the politicians writing those policies bury lots of grey areas and confusing language in there, because they’re bought and paid for by the very tech companies those laws should regulate.
TL;dr laws and regulations won’t do shit even though verbiage will be cleverly written to seem so.
they also dont put up for votes by the public in thier states too, so its extra layer of secrecy.
This to me is one of my critics of wilderness areas (I love them otherwise), without having a place for people to be apart and worth with the rest of the natural ecology of an area it’s too easy to see avoiding active harm as an optional charity instead of a part of maintaining a living biosphere
The problem is Microsoft. It’s also the datacentre builders. It’s also the governments.
All three are a fucking problem
I mean, yes but?
Create a system that incentivizes people or groups to pursue profit ahead of environmental concerns and that’s what you’ll get. POSWID and all that.
Directing anger at Microsoft or a datacenter builder is a very convenient way for those in power to deflect blame away from those who created the system in the first place.
The only real, systemic solve is to fix the incentives through taxation and regulation.
Anything else is futile.
I disagree, all three must addressed whether individually or collectively. In today’s America, there is little distinction between corporation and government, especially in the tech sector.
A 20 year gas deal is probably THE dummest fucking thing you can do. Shit isn’t getting cheaper.
Ah, but it is likely that the deal is locked in place with some kind of price guarantee. Meaning they’ve guaranteed that they’ll buy for 20 years, and in return they get a certain price. I doubt they’ve managed to get it for a flat price for 20 years, but it’s likely a curve that’ll be beneficial to both parts of the agreement.
And then any other parties not part of the deal that also need this gas, those who don’t have 20 year contracts on fixed prices, they get to carry the burden. :)
The only way to avoid negative environmental consequences I’ve seen implemented is Japan using geothermal vents in the ocean.
They harvest the heat for energy, and the ocean (that would get heated up anyways) for cooling.
The net effect is an artificial reef and spreading the heat out further in a temperate zone that facilitates biological growth.
I don’t think there’s any scenario that actually works on land. Maybe out in the middle of the desert powered only by solar and using an absolutely massive heatsink that dumps it all over night when the desert is cold. But the cost for that would be insane.
Complete nonsense spin attempt by Microsoft.
