Data Centers coming to El Paso have got a lot of folks upset for various reasons but, maybe, they don’t have to be here at all.
More and more folks are jumping on the anti – data center band wagon. I’m not crazy about them myself but it looks like they could have a home near El Paso rather than in it. One of the nearby oil fields.
There’s a list of reasons why peeps are against the data centers being built in and around El Paso. No matter what side you’re on, you’ve got a decent argument but, maybe, there’s a better alternative outside El Paso.
Why Oil Fields Are Bad For El Paso
I’m pretty much anti on these things, the biggest reasons being the enormous fuel and water consumption … we’re in the desert ‘ya know, it’s not like there’s an ocean nearby to draw from and Ascarate Lake sure isn’t going to feed it … and they’re really noisy.
Why Data Centers And Oil Fields Are A Good Combo
According to grist.org, oil producers in the nearby Permian Basin have a surplus of natural gas, (a side effect of the drilling process), that has to be burned off or vented. That gas could be used to generate the power a data center needs according to energy and water use experts.
“If you have a declining oil field and you had that big captive asset there, then plugging it in to run digital infrastructure instead makes a lot of sense.” – grist.org
Data Centers Are Loud
Not too many people live in oil fields or even around them and those that do probably won’t care about the noise…