Anger mounts over environmental cost of Google datacentre in Uruguay
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
> The spokesperson added: “Once built, the datacentre will operate within the standards approved by the local authorities, and it will be part of Google’s longstanding commitment to sustainability across areas such as accelerating the transition to a net zero future and innovating to run the most efficient infrastructure.”
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/07/googles-greenhouse-g...
> Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged 48 percent in the past five years due to the expansion of its data centers that underpin artificial intelligence systems, leaving its commitment to get to “net zero” by 2030 in doubt.
> Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt said the company remained committed to the 2030 target but stressed the “extremely ambitious” nature of the goal.
Translation: We've lobbied them, threatened them, or bribed them.
> follow the regulatory process to secure all the necessary permits.
Note: Not secure a low-to-zero rate of carbon emissions, but rather secure permits.
> company remained committed to the 2030 target
Translation: Before 2030, we are committed to something you can only check us on in 2030. In 2030 we'll forget about that commitment, rephrase it, or just refuse to talk about it. Or we'll have some really good excuse.
I don't know how they got the air conditioning to 25T of CO2e / year but I have to assume thats based on an anticipated refrigerant leak (high CO2e equivalent).
I'm all for local sites getting benefits so they should get them though I bet whoever put the deal together is taking them for themselves.
I'm assuming this is for core google services rather than being a GCP region btw. If it is also enabled for GCP then you get data residency benefits too rather than having to store your data in Brazil or Chile, which may have different data privacy rules.