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Comment by dlkf | Hacker News Reader

Why is green in scare-quotes?

People make the argument that is a giant datacenter is consuming 50% of some local hydro installation, everyone else is town is buying something else that is less green.

It opens up questions about grids and market efficiency, so your mileage may vary.

> People make the argument that is a giant datacenter is consuming 50% of some local hydro installation, everyone else is town is buying something else that is less green.

I don't think that's a cogent argument. It's akin to saying a vegan commune in a small is buying is buying up 50% of the vegan food, "forcing" others to buy meat-products, and framing this to cast doubts on whether they are truly vegan. Consumers aren't in a position to solve supply problems.

Hydro power is a great thing, it was the first renewable energy that was available in meaningful quantities. However, great sites for hydro power are definitely limited. We will not suddenly find a great spot for a new huge dam. Imagine the only source of vegan B12 to be some obscure plant that can only be grown on a tiny island. In this scenario, the possible extend of vegan consumption is fixed.

In the regions where it works (PNW, Quebec, etc) we could easily build more. The hurdles are regulatory. The regulation isn’t baseless - a dam will affect the local ecosystem adversely. But that’s a tradeoff we choose rather than a fundamental limitation.

The other trade off is correlated with the energy stored : potential for catastrophic disaster in case of failure. as a society, living below is not risk free in the long run.

You've just painted a clearer picture than I did: the crux is that it is a supply-side problem.

Thats a terrible analogy. Maybe if a bio-fuel plant used 50% of the vegan food to produce “green fuel”

There's also discussion of environmental damage from damming rivers

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