Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is belching smog-forming pollution into an area of South Memphis that already leads the state in emergency department visits for asthma.
None of the 35 methane gas turbines that help power xAI’s massive supercomputer is equipped with pollution controls typically required by federal rules.
Paul Krugman commented (Substack August 19 2025) :
At the time these turbines were operating without permits. On July 2 Shelby County — overruling local protests — issued permits for 15 turbines, together with emission standards. But given the history, it’s hard to avoid being skeptical about whether those standards will be honored.
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The chart below shows the changes between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2025 in real GDP and some of its components. Investment in information processing equipment — which at this point basically means data centers — accounted for more than half of overall growth, more than consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the economy:
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
So the AI boom is really the only thing keeping the economy’s head above water, and you have to be worried about what happens if and when it ends.
Here is a glimpse of current exponential construction of datacentres:
500 data centres in UK, 80 in Ireland.
2024 Top 10 Data Centre Companies in this highly competitive market:
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
borderslynn 
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