The biggest scandal in AI energy usage right now deserves to be the xAI data center running on 35 methane gas turbines that don't need air permits because they are "temporary" and don't have catalytic reduction pollution controls installed because... they just didn't bother?
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/12/xai-data-center/
@simon Catalytics converters increase fuel use. Fuel is expensive. Other people's lungs are worth nothing to Musk.
@simon Obviously Musk is at fault here, but allowing companies to run "temporary" gas turbine generators for up to a year without permits or requiring them to have air pollution controls is quite a long period of time. Sure it may be necessary to run such generators for short periods of time for testing or actual temporary use, but beyond that I don't see why they don't require permits in this case even after at least most the generators on-site are found to not just be in-use "temporarily".
@simon Is it because those generators are for disaster reflief, emergencies and are somehow expempt from those regs?
Not that regulations matter to Musk.
@simon Of course it's in a black neighborhood. And they spread propaganda tracks full of lies around the area, signed by a group named "Facts Over Fiction". You can't make up things more Orwellian than this
@simon I mean, that’s always been the issue.
Still some delusional people insist this problems will go away once we reach fusion energy, UBI and utopia all around.
Like we did when internet was invented /s
@simon if you are a multi-billionaire, making even more money comes ahead of caring about the people.
@simon In the US maybe. Internationally, it's a very crowded field.
@Vorsos ... yeah, for models that don't run out of a data center running on methane gas generators that were installed to exploit a loophole!
@Quinn9282 right, the loophole itself is another scandal independently of xAI taking advantage of it
Edited 8d ago
@nickalt that's interesting, it would suggest that there's an increase in CO2 output from running those devices, as a trade-off for reduced NO2 etc
@simon @nickalt Yes. A catalytic converter restricts the exhaust flow, so some of the engine’s power needs to be spent forcing the exhaust gasses through it. This results in higher fuel consumption. It’s normally a very small amount of power (and therefore a very small amount of added fuel), though. Catalytic converters are expensive, which I suspect is the more likely reason they were omitted.
Incidentally, stricter catalytic converters can actually be beneficial for certain engine designs like Wankels. Backpressure in the exhaust helps prevent those from blowing out their apex seals, especially with forced induction.