Bill Maher on Data Centers: “To put it in perspective… golf uses WAY MORE [water than data centers]. Golf and f*cking raising… almonds is the thing we raise here. Like almonds and golf, I’m against both of them.” “I’m not against almonds I’m against raising them where we don’t... have water to do it. And it’s like 7 TIMES the amount of water is being used on golf courses [than data centers].” “So maybe the issue itself is water.”show more

What the fuck is this? The video ends, but did he really let her get away with that? Data centers recycle their water, so they barely “use” anything. This is just two ignorant people riffing on stuff that feels true.

We are a planet full of water, we do not have a water supply problem, we have a water infrastructure problem. If coastal states that are dry, like California would simply build desalination plants, cheap and easy to do, they wouldn’t be hitting rivers like the Colorado so hard and could probably supply Nevada, Arizona, and Utah as well. But the left needs shortages to support their green grift

Close loop liquid cooling. How do people this ignorant get such a massive platform? Do they know what they’re saying is false or are they corrupt? Those are the only two options here, ignorant or corrupt.

The data centers are using water in a closed loop for cooling. The same water, over and over again, cycle through chillers. Their water use will not be any higher than other large warehouse, maybe even less during normal operations.

Modern golf courses are designed to minimze water usage. Most water is reclaimed, outside of fairways and greens many courses let the rough go natural.

Where they're both wrong....Golf courses used recycled water and most data centers now used a "closed loop" system which keeps water in system rather than continuously extracting it. I like Erin but she's wildly incorrect on a lot of this.

Her rebuttal pretends there will be anywhere near as many gigantic data centers as golf courses. I’m curious if he really let her get away with it.

This stupid lady is making the podcast rounds speaking out against data centers. She's the Greta Thunburg of old ladies. She just latches on to the current thing now.

FWIW- understandably it’s still a lot, but let’s be factual, even in the most driest of climates golf courses don’t come anywhere close to using 500M gals/yr let alone on an average.

Not fair Erin - Bill is right: It only takes 3 golf courses at 500 million gallons each to get up to 1.5 billion gallons of water. And how many golf courses would there be in LA County alone? Hmmm?

Golf uses reclaimed water. No human is drinking reclaimed water

She’s so wrong. The water is recirculated it’s not constantly pumped through. She’s another Chinese communist plant.

CA has plenty of water They refuse to use tax dollars properly to collect the huge amount of melted snowfall run off Idk the numbers but maybe they’d be a top 10 water resource state if they built more reservoirs

Data centers will help fuel AI that will help us to figure out how to desalinate water economically so we can pipe in water from the coasts to wherever it’s needed.

@kenmacpherson Waters not an issue for golf courses, non-potable water does fine & is in abundance.

Imagine being on a majority water planet..... and lack of water is an economic concern.

tired of this slippery fish playing both sodes of the fence.

are retards just wired this way? "A big data center will take more water" - Well how many GIANT data centers will there be - and how does that compare to the amount of smaller gold courses? I mean - i guess if youre retarded her propaganda might work on you?

Some evidence has appeared of what I guessed: the Chinese Communist Party is behind ginning up opposition to data centers in the West.

Data supports the directional claim: US data centers directly used ~17 billion gallons in 2023, while US golf courses use ~500-760 billion gallons annually and California almonds alone consume 1.5-1.8 trillion gallons per year. -Grok

Still, if you told people they use the equivalent of three golf courses most people would shrug. Nobody is protesting when three new golf courses open in the area. I think people are under the impression that big data centers use same amount of water as Cleveland.

But the loss of farm land should be mourned. Here in Illinois there’s plans for 500 acres to be taken out of production for a data center. That’s a lot of bushels of food.

Almonds use the same water as any other crop. The 60 minutes piece has really gotten into peoples heads. I guess ignorance is bliss. It takes so many gallons of water to grow so many pounds of food.

I do not trust a single mf who defends a data center.

Most American courses overwater. The American golf consumer, especially at the country club level, is anal retentive about the course always being pristine.

The entire conversation is classically what I like to characterize as "long on adjectives, short on nouns." Everything was framing generalized anxieties in florid terms. It could be boilerplate for any number of issues. It's typical political 'standing up for the little guy" >>

Golf uses water, yes, but it doesnt poison the water table in return. The coolant, preservatives, and anti corrosive chemicals they add to protect the hardware the water cools is very toxic and is dumped back into the water supply. If they find a solution for that, I don't care.

It’s easy to lie when you think you know nothing

The issue is people take the services data centers provide for granted. So, cut those towns, cities and States out of email and gps for a week or two. Let's see what happens.

She is lying. Data centers recirculate water for cooling and even the largest use a tiny amount compared to golf courses. Disgusting communist propaganda meant to stifle American innovation.

But we like almonds and hate flock cameras.

When u water the lawn, a lot of it seeps down to the water table, Wich fills wells... To be used again

Golf courses have retention ponds they draw from.

Water is literally a non issue

Data centers reuse their water. Golf courses & Almond farms do not.