Mumbai Families Suffer As Data Centers Keep the City Hooked on Coal (theguardian.com) 23
Two coal plants in Mumbai (in India) that were scheduled to close last year continue operating after the state government of Maharashtra reversed shutdown decisions in late 2023 and extended the life of at least one facility by five years. The largest single factor the Indian conglomerate Tata cited in its petition for an extension was increased energy demand from data centers.
The Guardian reports that Amazon operated 16 data centers in Mumbai last year. The company's official website lists three "availability zones" for the city. Amazon's Mumbai colocation data centers consumed 624,518 megawatt hours of electricity in 2023. That amount could power over 400,000 Indian households for a year. Residents of Mahul live a few hundred metres from one coal plant. Earlier this year doctors found three tumours in the brain of a resident's 54-year-old mother. Studies show people who live near coal plants are much more likely to develop cancer. By 2030 data centers will consume a third of Mumbai's energy, according to Ankit Saraiya, chief executive of Techno & Electric Engineering. Amazon's colocation data centers in Mumbai bought 41 diesel generators as backup. A report in August by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy identified diesel generators as a major source of air pollution in the region.
The Guardian reports that Amazon operated 16 data centers in Mumbai last year. The company's official website lists three "availability zones" for the city. Amazon's Mumbai colocation data centers consumed 624,518 megawatt hours of electricity in 2023. That amount could power over 400,000 Indian households for a year. Residents of Mahul live a few hundred metres from one coal plant. Earlier this year doctors found three tumours in the brain of a resident's 54-year-old mother. Studies show people who live near coal plants are much more likely to develop cancer. By 2030 data centers will consume a third of Mumbai's energy, according to Ankit Saraiya, chief executive of Techno & Electric Engineering. Amazon's colocation data centers in Mumbai bought 41 diesel generators as backup. A report in August by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy identified diesel generators as a major source of air pollution in the region.
DOS Attack? (Score:2)
Is something going on? Slashdot is really slow at the moment and when I tried to RTFA on the Guardian, it timed out completely.
Re: (Score:3)
Sorry. Slashdot's coal plant just went off line.
Re: (Score:2)
Panic over. I did some testing on my connection and while Download speeds were pretty much normal, Upload speeds were in the region of 800kb.
Then I ran my ISP's speed test and it told me to restart the modem (I'd reset the connection in the modem an hour or so earlier, no real change).
Some sites had been behaving normally, others were functionally unreachable. Now all is back to normal - the problem was in my four walls.
Re: DOS Attack? (Score:1)
Were you traffic-shaped by buggy AI-generated software?
Simple solution (Score:4)
Just relocate Tata's and Amazon's Mumbai headquarters a few hundred meters downwind of the coal plants. Move the families presently affected into the vacated mahogany lined corporate offices.
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mahogany lined corporate offices
No such thing. I've worked on Jassey's and Bezos' offices (and Bill Gate's as well). Their offices are only marginally better than other managers' offices in the company (although they do have much more extensive security precautions). You're probably thinking of Oracle.
You can't blame everything on AI (Score:2)
If your energy provider doesn't manage to provide a healthy energy mix, then blame your energy provider, not its customers. Data Centers are not building Coal Power plants, they buy the energy others provide. Some talk about plans to build nuclear, but I only believe it when I see it. And good luck to Altman with his fusion plans.
Re:You can't blame everything on AI (Score:4, Insightful)
Counterpoint: Sure we can. We track and predict energy usage pretty well and base capacity additions off of that. If there is a sudden consumer of energy that throw the consumption rate up a bunch it's fair to ask what that is and if the utility it is providing is worth the cost.
The question is if AI wasn't there would these coal plants be operating or would the rest of the grid be able to keep up.
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Maybe the question is also if anyone should live that near to coal plants. Who planned the plant/the city?
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It's India. No one planned anything.
Did you know that the heavily contaminated neighborhood next to the Bhopol plant is still occupied?
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I now people still live near tschernobyl. I wouldn't consider that either. But maybe it has interesting wildlife there.
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And you didn't know there is a coal plant, or you didn't care when you moved there?
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The same answer to so many similar historical questions; the British.
How else do you propose they power them? (Score:2)
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I propose they do NOT power them.
Re: How else do you propose they power them? (Score:1)
Do you hallucinate a lot?
Build stationary bikes with generators (Score:2)
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Should you feel sorry for residents? (Score:3)
The Tata coal plant in the article was build in a very remote location long time ago. Almost all the residents complaining moved there later. It is like you have been grilling burgers all the time and then someone moves in your neighborhood and complaints for smoky smell.
That does not mean that the plant should not be shutdown. But there are always trade offs. However, the residents can move out if they are not happy with the plant.
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Almost all the residents complaining moved there later. It is like you have been grilling burgers all the time and then someone moves in your neighborhood and complaints for smoky smell.
Yes and no. The concept of urban sprawl means eventually cities tend to grow into areas such as this due to no voluntary choice of anyone. In many cities (especially mega cities) there is no simple availability of housing that makes the choice completely optional. If it were no one would move their in the first place. In some cases the choice is made for you. I'm reminded of one municipality in Germany building social housing units within the blast radius of ammonia tanks on one of our facilities. The peopl
What is more important, your lungs or AI slop (Score:1)
Only one contributes to tech bros profits.
Unproven claims (Score:2)
Studies show people who live near coal plants are much more likely to develop cancer
There's always garbage about how studies show something, but there's absolutely no mention of what study was done, who did the research, backed by whom.