Meta's Plan For Nuclear-Powered AI Data Centre Thwarted By Rare Bees (ft.com) 43
An anonymous reader shares a report: Plans by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta to build an AI data centre in the US that runs on nuclear power were thwarted in part because a rare species of bee was discovered on land earmarked for the project, according to people familiar with the matter.
Zuckerberg had planned to strike a deal with an existing nuclear power plant operator to provide emissions-free electricity for a new data centre supporting his artificial intelligence ambitions. However, the potential deal faced multiple complications including environmental and regulatory challenges, these people said.
The discovery of the rare bee species on a location next to the plant where the data centre was to be built would have complicated the project, Zuckerberg told a Meta all-hands meeting last week, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Zuckerberg had planned to strike a deal with an existing nuclear power plant operator to provide emissions-free electricity for a new data centre supporting his artificial intelligence ambitions. However, the potential deal faced multiple complications including environmental and regulatory challenges, these people said.
The discovery of the rare bee species on a location next to the plant where the data centre was to be built would have complicated the project, Zuckerberg told a Meta all-hands meeting last week, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Maybe Bombus affini (Score:5, Interesting)
I tried to find the species, but very difficult to find it. I could not get into the article and duckduckgo searches only found articles without mentioning the species. But I saw a summary mentioning:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_affinis
So I am guessing that is the bee. FWIW, I remember seeing these as a kid, but for ages I now only see ones with a yellow band.
Re:Maybe Bombus affini (Score:4, Informative)
Paywall bypass: https://archive.ph/gPkii [archive.ph]
It doesn't say what kind of bees.
Re: (Score:2)
No surprise, the post is yet more msmash space filler.
Foiled again (Score:3)
By DR. BEES!!
Re: (Score:3)
What's this? A rare species of bees having their land stolen by a large tech corporation? My Endangered Species act of 1973 should put a stop to that!
Right (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Now, if it was Zuck *in* a nuclear reactor, that would be another matter...
Re: (Score:3)
Now, if it was Zuck *in* a nuclear reactor, that would be another matter...
You want Dr. Manhattan? Because that's how you get Dr. Manhattan. A 7 foot tall blue immortal Zuckerberg, swinging his giant naked dick around, but at least since he would be omniscient, he might lose interest in using networks to invade everyone's privacy for profit.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean a 7 foot tall immortal Zuckerberg with a still indistinguishable penis?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.
Re: (Score:2)
Companies should be required to post up "We made 13 species extinct in our efforts to make monetizing you more efficient!" The snag isn't only that there are goverment rules about preserving species, but that it's seriously bad PR for a company to assist in destroying a species.
(We don't care if they wipe out a species of bees, but how dare they euthanize a squirrel that bit a human even if it might have rabies!)
non-paywalled (Score:5, Informative)
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/mone... [msn.com]
Re: (Score:2)
All hail Oprah the Bee queen!
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe we just don't need the Bullshit AI the power was intended for?
Shhh, don't speak the heresy aloud!
Re:Science tho (Score:4, Insightful)
an existing nuclear power plant operator
The power is already there and being produced, but it's just being used for other things than pumping into a Meta datacenter
No, the bees are more important than AI bubble driven power hogs that will take gigawatts of power capacity *away* from the grid, causing grid operators to build up hydrocarbon capacity to offset the green nuclear power that was lost to that boondoggle. While Meta points to accounting tricks that shows their individual usage falls within the 'green' capacity, all the other homes and businesses get moved from 'green' to hydrocarbon since the 'green' gets sucked up by the companies trying to greenwash themselves.
Going into the electric generation biz (Score:2)
If your business model is, "I am just a customer of electric power like everybody else", you don't run into this problem.
If you go into the electric power business, for whatever business reason, you become an electric power generation company and have to deal with all of the poo that gets flung at people in that sector of the economy.
For example, the power company put up a natural-gas fired "peaker" power plant in a rural area and they had to put up with the "Oh, the humanity, we will be poisoned from
Re:China is laughing at us (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:China is laughing at us (Score:4, Insightful)
Note that it wasn't the nuke plant that was thwarted, the nuke plant already exists and is doing fine.
What was thwarted (maybe?) was the plans for Meta to greenwash their inefficient ambitions by making it seem like they are just taking power from the nuclear plant, likely causing the utility to spin up more hydrocarbon energy production to offset the loss of that energy output from the nuke plant to the grid.
We can appreciate funding to build out non-hydrocarbon energy production, but we shouldn't let ourselves be impressed by these sorts of 'accounting' tricks where the net result does not include net-new 'green' energy production.
Re: (Score:2)
What was thwarted
There is nothing magic about a few miles one way or the other. True green-washing would be signing a purchase agreement for power delivered to a condo in NYC, generated by a solar farm in Arizona.
Re:stupid environmental regulations. (Score:3)
I generally consider myself pro-environmental, but unless there is something special or useful about a single shrinking species, I have to agree and say let it go!
Darwin has already whacked a billion+ species since the dawn of life, a billion-and-one won't change shit.
Bee gone! (I hope Darwin whacks pay-walls also.)
Surprising (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Fluff on MAMAA nukes (Score:2)
MAMAA nukes (Score:2)
Make A Mess And Abandon?
Zuck reels from stinging setback (Score:3)
headline says it all.
Beezilla (Score:2)
This is how most of the 1950's sci-fi movies started :
(nuclear something) + (some kind of animal, preferably creepy) = Yucky Monster.
It wasn't all bad.
50-foot woman had about 1500 lb (680 kg) of boob.
And Godzilla even made it to superstar status.
Hollywood take note.
At least ... (Score:2)
So this is kind of B.S. ? (Score:3)
Convenient to play word-games right after other big tech companies make a splash in the news that they're going to power back up idled nuclear power plants to get energy for their projects. All FB was doing was planning to build a new data center near an existing plant so they could claim they ran on all nuclear power. That doesn't help things at all if the plant has to increase usage of alternate fossil fuel powered ones to offset the usage?
Oh, the irony... (Score:1)
Gotta love the irony of the plans of a company like Meta being thwarted by environmentalist regulations..
Re: (Score:2)
Stupid. (Score:2)
Existing nuclear plant (Score:2)
Unless that plant had already been shutdown, or Meta was going to be the sole reason it wouldn't be shut down imminently then the datacentre was never going to be green. Buying up existing green energy just pushes your emissions to those people who can't.
You can always find a rare species (Score:2)