Comment on xAI Data Center Emits Plumes of Pollution, New Video Shows
yarrage@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago“But through the lens of Wilson’s optical gas imaging camera, a scientific instrument that is used within the oil and gas industry and by regulators to detect methane emissions, the pollution becomes readily apparent. Huge, billowing plumes of pollution, including large volumes of unburned methane, rise into the atmosphere and drift off-site.”
Have you read the article at all?
doodledup@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I did read that now. But why would it release methane at all? They are cooling computers.
brachypelmasmithi@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Direct quote from the article:
Looks like it’s not just cooling that they’re doing there. Methane in this case seems to either be a byproduct of power generation or unused fuel somehow leaking from the system. I have no clue how gas turbines work, so I’m talking out of my ass here. In any case this seems to be the source of the methane emissions.
dan1101@lemmy.world 1 week ago
It’s amazing to me that cloud computing is so profitable that they can run inefficient gas generators to power it.
People don’t think about the internet being fossil fuel powered.
obinice@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Methane is what the majority of natural gas is made up of, and if your generator isn’t made to be very efficient (like a real power station is), you’ll lose some of your fuel unburnt into the atmosphere.
Kinda like unburnt wood smoke vapour, which could have been burned in a higher quality wood burner, but just goes up the chimney in an open fire.
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 1 week ago
They’re running generators to power the data centre.