Comments on: Google “Renewable Energy Tariff” White Paper

By: anderlan

anderlan — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:48:00 +0000

You do realize this is a business decision with cost/benefit analyses, right?

By: Otis11

Otis11 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:22:00 +0000

Huh… I thought about the Sahara and Gobi never clicked. (Yeah, I’m pretty sleep deprived)

Gobi might work…would have to see about the water though, because a data center will evaporate much of that water away, so it needs to be a constant supply as even a large reserve isn’t really sustainable

Also, what about Tibet? IIRC it’s fairly cold as well, and has lots of sun (not to mention wind)

Although, geographically Asia is my weakest point so I could be mistaken…

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:28:00 +0000

Wow, interesting notes about the Gobi…

By: Karl-Friedrich Lenz

Karl-Friedrich Lenz — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:40:00 +0000

You would need to force them to do so by the evil but mostly successful method of paying them more money. Or you would need to train some locals.

By: Karl-Friedrich Lenz

Karl-Friedrich Lenz — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:39:00 +0000

Thanks. Actually that was a proposal from lead Bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen, mining Bitcoin in desert areas. I plan to blog about that tomorrow, and your point needs discussing. Thanks again.

As for the Gobi, it is actually very cold there in most time slots. And if you think there is no water there, you would be wrong. Oyu Tolgoi will use the Gunii Holoi fossil water aquifer, as discussed at Lenz Blog. That is admittedly somewhat surprising. I would have thought that there is no water in the Gobi as well before reading the Oyu Tolgoi environmental impact reports.

By: Otis11

Otis11 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 03:10:00 +0000

You were going great until the “Sahara and Gobi deserts” part… Data centers have massive cooling needs that often make up almost half of their power consumption and require significant amounts of water. If these data centers are properly situated where this waste heat can be used or in places where natural cooling can be harnessed, power and water consumption can be minimized. The desert fits neither of these.

By: anderlan

anderlan — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:03:00 +0000

Yes but what trained techs would want to relocate in the desert? Maybe where it bordered the sea.