Skeptics of the proposed hyperscale data center in Box Elder County are sweating about a lot more than its energy demands and potential toll on water supplies.
9gw if run 24/7 (capacity utilization is actually low on average in US) is 551.88 twh/year. 1500x. Natural gas is not that much cleaner than coal from co2/ghg warming perspective.
For comparison, a blast furnace making steel uses on the order of 3600 GWh/yr and the energy comes primarily from coal.
9Gwh is a high number for a datacenter, but industrial processes use much more and much dirtier energy.
That’s also one datacenter and the largest. Whereas there are many, many blast furnaces running all over the world.
9gw if run 24/7 (capacity utilization is actually low on average in US) is 551.88 twh/year. 1500x. Natural gas is not that much cleaner than coal from co2/ghg warming perspective.