Yves here. Keep in mind that what is blandly depicted as “date centers’” use, which creates the impression that it is due to all sorts of cloud users, such as for smartphones and small businesses, is increasingly due to AI, particularly the growth in consumption. And while most critics of AI resource-hogging focus on energy use, they often ignore another big need, which is for water.

One issue that is not often acknowledged is the use of water for cooling…which becomes much less effective and/or environmentally dangerous when ambient temperatures are high. This sort of thing has been happening with some nuclear operations. Yours truly has no idea if and when it becomes an issue with other energy sources. But many data-center operators have been depicting nuclear plants as a “least bad” solution to their burgeoning energy needs.

For instance, in 2024, Nuclear Newwire ran the story French nuclear plant