A question was posed from Facebook regarding my views on AI Datacentres in Tasmania, specifically the one being built in Burnie, where I am running for election as Deputy Mayor and Councillor. This is my response:
I’ll start with the Burnie Datacentre for VIRIDIS: As mentioned in the comments this is a traditional data centre meant for hosting businesses servers and network switches, instead of having them on onsite, or as a backup plan. This is actually a good thing for local businesses and their Disaster Recovery Plans.
For all the other AI Datacentres: I’m watching these with interest. Over in America they were rushed through, like here in Australia and Tasmania. And there have been issues. Pollution, water usage, and health issues potentially related to low frequency noises (get investigation: https://youtu.be/_bP80DEAbuo?si=3eY7vPwZk5Vgf1gp). These have caused American communities to push back.
Over here, in Latrobe, their Council has put in a stop work request due to over-clearing vegetation. Latrobe Council, and other Tasmanian Councils, are calling on the State to have more say in AI Datacentre approvals as local Councils are hamstrung by State Planning rules.
My own questions and concerns are around the long term outcomes:
1-Climate change is reducing rainfall in Tasmania, which lowers dams, and hydro covers our base load. Who loses power first when the dams get too low and the wind stops spinning the turbines?
2-They use a lot of water. Again, climate change. Who’s going thirsty or getting their bills increased first?
3- Once built, it doesn’t take many people to maintain them, and I doubt Tasmanian will get anything cheaper if they use Tasmanian AI Datacentres. What’s the genuine local benefit?
4 – If some or all of the American issues happen here, what’s the plan to stop them running or modify conditions?
As Deputy Mayor and Councillor, I'll continue pushing State to give us more say in these.