this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2025
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[–] ClimateStalin@hexbear.net 58 points 1 week ago (38 children)

Okay not just AI but in general most business uses should be lowest on the electricity priority list

Before telling people to raise their AC to relieve pressure on the power grid, AI data centers should be shut down, most offices should be closed and powered down, etc.

The very last electric appliances to be turned off should be residential AC units. Basically everything else should go before those.

[–] balsoft@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (37 children)

The very last electric appliances to be turned off should be residential AC units

I don't think a mostly for-comfort utility should be the last to shut down. There is a lot of significantly more important shit, like hospitals, water treatment plants and pumping stations, coolers and freezers which are storing food, public transit, etc.

After all, our species has survived without AC for hundreds of thousands of years, but surviving without running water or safe food is much more difficult.

Even some datacenters can be more important, e.g. those predicting the weather or handling communications.

And if AC is necessary for survival in a place, then maybe we shouldn't fuckin' settle there (or at least shouldn't cover the entire place with asphalt and concrete). What happens during a real blackout? Does everyone just die?

[–] BeamBrain@hexbear.net 49 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (10 children)

After all, our species has survived without AC for hundreds of thousands of years

survivorship

Other things our species survived without for hundreds of thousands of years include water purification, cancer treatment, obstetrics, antibiotics, sterile medical instruments, and agriculture.

[–] space_comrade@hexbear.net 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah ok but most households probably don't absolutely need an AC, there's definitely people that would be put at risk if they didn't have one but on average in the west I don't think it's the case.

[–] ClimateStalin@hexbear.net 11 points 1 week ago

In large parts of the US it’s absolutely the case, and even in Europe every time they have a heatwave (which is every summer now) a ton of old people die

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