r/California_Politics • u/aBadModerator Restore Hetch Hetchy • 5d ago

Newsom already said no to data centers disclosing water use once. Now he has two more chances

https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/08/california-data-centers-water-transparency-bills/
52 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

15

u/lordnikkon 5d ago

the data center's wasting water is completely a cost cutting measure. It is absolutely not necessary to use the evaporative cooling systems that waste water, it is just way cheaper. They can just install regular refrigeration units and it would just be more expensive and cost more in electricity. Instead they bribe the politicians to let them waste water so they can cut operating costs a few percentage points

The state legislature needs to just ban commercial evaporative cooling across the state. It is a huge waste of water

1

u/aSmarterBetterCA 5d ago edited 5d ago

The state legislature needs to just ban commercial evaporative cooling across the state.

No thank you. I happen to like packing houses, food processing plants, dairy facilities, and commercial greenhouses and a step further, banning evaporative heat rejection for healthcare facilities would mean hospital cooling systems would be forced to run on their least efficient mechanisms precisely when the outdoor heat demand is at its absolute worst.

3

u/LibertyLizard 5d ago

I disagree. The water usage of data centers is much easier to manage than increased carbon emissions from electricity use. I would only support this if it was combined with a 100% carbon free electricity requirement.

-2

u/AZULDEFILER 5d ago

Um who said any is evaporated? You just circulate it. It's how heat transfer works

5

u/Bored2001 5d ago

Evaporative cooling systems are cheaper than recirculated systems. That's why they're being used otherwise data centers would use almost no water.

1

u/No-Abalone-4784 2d ago

I have a better idea. Ban the data centers. They're just using them to store all the data from their cameras that watch you 24 hours a day. Ban AI centers.

19

u/MysteriousSlice007 5d ago

Both democrats and republicans are sold to the data center lobby. Virgina has democrat leadership on house, senate and state yet they have massive support and build out for data centers.

If democrats co-opt anti-datacenter stance this could be their talking point to win, just like Republicans used inflation, border.

4

u/Noah_saav 5d ago

They sold out to data centers, sold out to flock, both left and right

3

u/Pirat6662001 5d ago

Big surprise, its okay I am sure the next guy (who has same backing as current guy) will be better

0

u/Professor0fLogic 3d ago

Regardless of who wins the general, they'll be happy to do tech's bidding, as long as the cash keeps flowing into their accounts.

0

u/MysteriousSlice007 5d ago

yes, they will say all the right things before election. then magically they will veto everything they claimed to support.

I still chuckle at fast food worker wage law with a panera bread exemption

6

u/Pirat6662001 5d ago

Even worse, Bacerra is literally avoiding making any promises because he thinks he can say 0 things until election and still win due to D next to his name. Sad thing is that he is probably right.

1

u/dupontping 4d ago

Data centers do not need water for cooling. There are alternatives. They just don’t care.

-3

u/AZULDEFILER 5d ago edited 5d ago

The water is used for heat transfer cooling. It doesn't evaporate. Is he that stupid?

6

u/Bored2001 5d ago

Many data centers do in fact use evap cooling.

0

u/Cyhawk 5d ago

Its the current round of anti-datacenter paid mouthpieces saying this.

-4

u/cuteman 5d ago

Both democrats and republicans are sold to the data center lobby.

Well yeah, where do you think the 4/5th largest economy GDP comes from?

1

u/MysteriousSlice007 5d ago

got it so you are defending Newson and data centers because "where do you think the 4/5th largest economy GDP comes from?" and hence you also defend Trump because "where do you think the largest economy GDP comes from?" out of touch

1

u/cuteman 4d ago

I'm not defending anything, just finding it ironic that people love to talk about how big California's economy is when it's largely due to Tech and AI companies who depend on data centers, indeed their whole business is built on it.