One of (too many, alas) discouraging developments in recent years is the advent of massive data centers sucking up electricity and making the energy transition that much harder, often doing nothing better than creating imaginary currency for speculators or using LLMs for silliness. New Hampshire has a few of them (there’s a map here) but has so far avoided a power-grid-crushing onslaught.
New Hampshire Bulletin has a story (read it here) about lawmakers musing whether we should try to change that. Let’s hope not.
A side note: For those who think that data centers can be a way to clean up the grid through flexible usage to balance renewables, I say “baloney.” Corporations making multi-billion-dollar investments aren’t going to turn them off because local officials say please – they’ll keep sucking down power unless they’re forced to stop by law. And today’s politicians aren’t going to pass laws like that.
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