In South Africa roads are not even designed with pedestrian walkways. I would hear all the time in the news about drunk drivers hitting a group of cyclists or pedestrians. Its genuinely unsafe to go anywhere without a car. I now live in the Netherlands and I only bought a car 3 years after I moved here, because there is actual working public transport and even the rural areas have bike lanes.
Gaza doctor receives charred bodies of her nine children while on duty
Removed by mod
He said power consumption was the same before and after AI, which implied that AI must have replaced something else, and he mentioned crypto. Guess. Ididnt understand him.
There has been talk of some data centers being built with their own small moduler reactors. I haven’t hear of any actually being built yet and Im sure there would be all sorts of bureaucracy. Would be interesting tho
AI didnt replace cryptocurrency
I work in the data center industry—my company designs them.
Traditional IT server racks typically draw about 12 kW of power. Most of this power is converted into heat, so we must provide an equal amount of cooling. These servers must never experience a power failure or overheat, so we use massive generators, battery farms, and chilled water buffer tanks to ensure redundancy.
Now, with the rise of AI, many data centers are undergoing major overhauls. IT racks have gone from drawing 12–15 kW each to 40–100 kW. This represents a huge increase in both weight and power density. As a result, most cooling and electrical systems need to be completely redesigned. Much of the older equipment is being replaced with new infrastructure.
Even a simple Google search now uses up to 10 times more power than before, as AI has been integrated into their search function.
The environmental impact of AI is pretty devastating—I don’t think many people are aware of this.
Basically for carrying goods, doing long drives, or comfort in bad weather. Public transport works well here but you can still end up having to do a lot of waiting and walking if you are doing a trip somewhere. Also the more connections a trip needs then the higher chance something can go wrong. For example, missing a train because the connection was late. There are car sharing services here too, and there is one of these cars right next to my house. I would rent that when I wanted to go to an appointment somewhere. But there were enough times that the service was unreliable or booked out when I needed a car urgently, that I got annoyed and decided to get my own car. I think a mix of cycling, public transport and having your own car is best.