00:00What if your next electricity bill came with a reward for using less power so a data center
00:06can use more? Tech giant Google is starting to pay people for small amounts of their unused
00:11energy, from household appliances and EVs for example. The idea? Turn millions of everyday
00:17devices into a virtual power plant for data centers. Sounds crazy? Well, AI use is exploding
00:24and data centers need huge amounts of electricity. They leave a massive environmental footprint
00:29because of carbon emissions and extensive water use for cooling. Regions in Asia and Latin America
00:35are seeing a data center boom. They can bring jobs and investment but also strain power supply and
00:40increase water and energy costs. So communities are asking, how do we balance the benefits and the
00:47downsides? Let's break it down. Data centers use enormous amounts of electricity. Some of the biggest
00:54ones can consume as much power as around 50 000 homes together. And for people living nearby,
01:00that could affect energy supply. Take Mumbai for example. Experts say data centers could use one
01:06third of the city's electricity by 2030. One idea we've already teased, virtual power plants or VPPs.
01:14The concept is simple. Rather than one big power source, a VPP connects thousands of smaller ones,
01:21home batteries, EV charges, rooftop solar systems and so on. People get paid to share that energy,
01:27helping ease pressure on the grid. Data centers use large amounts of water, mainly to cool their
01:33servers. According to a recent United Nations report, data centers could consume over 9 trillion
01:39liters of water every year by 2030. That's roughly equivalent to the drinking water needs of the entire
01:46world population in a year. In some regions, that growing demand is already causing tension. In parts of
01:53Latin America, proposed data center projects have faced backlash from residents that are worried about
01:58water use during droughts. So what if the cooling water didn't have to come from rivers or groundwater?
02:05One idea put data centers in the ocean. China has recently launched an underwater data center.
02:11Submerged 10 kilometers off the coast of Shanghai, it sits 10 meters below the surface. The cooling
02:17happens naturally there. But some worry projects like these will disturb marine ecosystems. Data centers
02:24don't just consume resources, they also occupy land. Some fear whole communities could be displaced.
02:30It's already happening in India, where local farmers refuse to give up their land for a Google data center.
02:36So to avoid putting any more stress on the planet, some are looking beyond Earth. Researchers in Singapore
02:43have proposed a system where satellites in low Earth orbit could act like data centers, sharing computing
02:49power, storage and network traffic. To have data centers in space offers two big advantages. Almost
02:56unlimited solar energy and natural cooling from the extreme cold of space. Europe's Ascent project,
03:03UAE's Madari Space and China are already testing prototypes. But there are some problems. Cost,
03:09difficult maintenance or space debris, to name just a few. In the end, feelings are mixed. In some places,
03:16data centers were once welcomed. Like in the US state of Virginia, where they supported over 75,000 jobs
03:23across the state and generated more than 1.6 billion US dollars in tax revenue in 2023. But over time,
03:30the public there turned against them. Bottom line, data centers bring jobs, innovation and growth,
03:36but also noise, pressure on resources and environmental concerns. And while the benefits
03:41might be global, the impact is felt most strongly locally. So what do you think? Is it a fair trade
03:48-off?
03:49What's your take on this? Let us know.
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