Household upgrades can meet 100 percent of data center demand growth

rewiringamerica.org

5 points·zekrioca··5 comments

> If hyperscalers paid for 50 percent of the upfront cost of installing heat pumps in homes with electric resistance heating, they could get capacity on the grid at a price of about $344/kW-year — a similar cost to building and operating a new gas power plant, which currently costs about $315/kW-year.13

I feel like I’m missing something. This relies on corporations putting American households ahead of their bottom line which never happens?

> This relies on corporations putting American households ahead of their bottom line

It doesn’t.

“…data-center developers scrambling for electricity intend to use on-site power for a few years until the grid infrastructure can catch up. A few plan to bypass the grid indefinitely, and others expect to split the difference, using a mix of grid and on-site power” [1].

Paying for a heat pump may be cheaper than installing generators. Better: doing both may confer an advantage (and inoculate against future backlash).

[1] https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/ai-data-centers-desp...

Paywall for me but won’t they prefer to manage 1 site vs thousands of household installs? This just seems like something the gov would handle not corps.

> won’t they prefer to manage 1 site vs thousands of household installs? This just seems like something the gov would handle not corps

Why would the company manage? Fund a publicly-administered programme.

Well fingers crossed then

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