alt Hacker NewsAre you really saying that in 2026, a year when only the nuts are still trying to claim climate change isn’t a thing, the most intelligent approach to the problem of powering data centres that are mostly being built for the purpose of juicing share prices is gas turbines at an industrial scale? The most intelligent approach is to not build the things. The next most intelligent approach is solar and batteries nearby. Way down the bottom of the list is burning gas to power them.
Replies
georgemcbay • today at 6:43 PM
You seem to be assuming the people proposing and making these decisions value the continuation of humanity over share prices.
What are you, some kind of a Luddite? (/s)
The natural gas is already being flared off to protect the environment (CH4 is a much worse greenhouse gas than CO2).
The key with this project is that instead of wasting the thermal energy from this unused gas, we feed it into power plants that are constructed nearby, eliminating the need for new pipeline infrastructure and providing some actual value.
You could go on to argue the oil fields themselves should cease production. This is the only way to actually stop the methane coming out of the ground. Even then it wouldn't happen overnight.