Basin & Range Geography Could Be Ideal For Cutting Edge Data Centers
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Recently, a colleague shared an article about the future of data centers and the electricity that powers them. With rising energy use for artificial intelligence, the supply of something as basic as electrical power can’t provide enough energy for every AI scheme in planning, leaving tech companies looking for other sources of power — like small modular reactors, solar, and wind — and even portable generators that have to be moved once a year to avoid regulations that apply to permanent generating stations.
Of course, we’ve been here before, with Malthusian “sky is falling” predictions over data centers before. Every time, increases in energy efficiency have outpaced increasing demand for power, and this could easily happen again. On top of that, the benefits from artificial intelligence seem likely to trigger increased energy efficiency elsewhere on power grids, further canceling out the supposed perils of future AI power demand.
Regardless of how things shake out for AI power long term, there does seem to be a cycle here. New technologies seem to be too much for existing systems to work with. Systems adapt and the new technology becomes less resource intensive. Then, a new technology comes along to renew fears that there won’t be enough power for it all.
Instead of worrying ourselves to death every time a cutting edge computing technology starts sucking up power, it might be a good idea to find ideal places for these new technologies to mature. These places wouldn’t be great for the long term, because we want mature technologies close to populations to minimize latency. But, while they mature, that initial work can happen someplace where it isn’t such a problem.
Ideally, we should find a place with abundant renewable energy resources, little competing local energy demand, and lower temperatures that make heat dissipation less energy intensive. For solar, we’d want to have land that’s similar to what you’d find in Mexico, with abundant sunshine. But we want the data center to be in a place that’s more like Canada, with cool temperatures that make it cheaper to cool off hot chips.
How do we bring Mexican-style solar radiance and Canadian-style cool temperatures together? There are actually a bunch of places in North America where those two climates are within just a few miles of each other: the Great Basin and other basin and range areas in the Southwest. At the tops of the mountains, sometimes small ranges considered “sky islands,” it’s a lot like Canada. Rich forests, deep snowfall in the winter, and cooler temperatures year round make an ideal spot for a data center. Meanwhile, just over a cliff and down a few steep drops, the desert floor has rich sunlight for most of the year.
By putting solar on the desert floor, wind turbines on the west slopes and crests, and energy storage in data centers in the mountains, it should be possible to create awesome facilities for cutting edge computer technology to burn up energy while it gets good enough for prime time.
Featured image by Jennifer Sensiba.
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