Oregon's clean energy goals meet rising demand for power | The Story | July 12, 2024

July 12 on The Story: Power, as it turns out, is a complicated thing. Across the western U.S., states like Oregon are striving to meet ambitious goals for slashing greenhouse gas emissions within the next decade or two, but that decarbonization comes at the same time that demand for electricity is expected to skyrocket. With clean energy projects on the rise, production might be the least of our worries. Instead, the main problem seems to be whether we can adequately send, share or store that energy so that it can be used where it needs to be used without wasting any of it. Tonight, we're getting technical about the problems with energy in the West, and some of the stop-gap solutions.
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[@cvrart]

Like a parasitic vampire, as soon as we scale up more electricity generation, and more "clean energy" generation, data centers powering AI chatbots and generating crypto tokens and creating dumb AI movies from still photographs will suck up all that new electricity, while regular folks will be told to set their AC thermostat up to 90 degrees to free up energy so that data centers can stay running. It brings to mind the milkshake line in the movie "There Will be Blood".

[@cvrart]

Please explain WTF we need so many data centers. I mean, WHO is actually demanding we have all those data centers? This AI BS is being shoved down our throats. Nobody can explain why we actually need generative AI, when we can't even deal with a homelessness and addiction crisis, or a housing affordability crisis, or a cost of living crisis, etc. Can ANYONE actually explain to me why mankind needs AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), for example, or if any of this tech overgrowth will ACTUALLY solve real issues like climate change or species extinction, or assure us that this tech overgrowth won't actually just make all of mankind's problems even worse by acting as an amplifier of economic activity, resource usage, and habitat destruction? We're like sheep being led to the slaughter by tech bros like Mark Zuckerberg et al.

[@cvrart]

The terms "misallocation of capital" and "boondoggle" come to mind.

[@jamesklaatu9359]

Only one ideology and party to blame for the decay, crime, violence, and chaos we live with here. What makes you think they could manage our energy? Decades of one party rule and voters keep reelecting it. Can't fix stupid in Oregon.

[@realitycheck6]

100% agree with you!

[@dflowers1477]

Good thing businesses are leaving Oregon so we’ll use less energy.

[@steveanimatrix3887]

20 years just to do transmission lines? Wow. China is bringing 3 new coal fired power plants online PER WEEK. Yes, buy that expensive green energy tech that only works sometimes from China so they can go full steam on coal. I guess people feel better not seeing the pollution directly. Oh, and when you go over 1,000 megawatts, you use gigawatts. You wouldn't say 22,000 million instead of 22 billion, would you?