Improper redaction reveals Google Data Center water and electricity usage(1011now.com)
517 points by sensanaty 9 days ago | 680 comments
tl;dr: Google's Nebraska data centers redacted electricity, water usage, and tax refund figures in state-mandated reports by claiming trade secrets, but the redactions were trivially defeated by copy-pasting the hidden text. The leaked data shows the Lincoln facility used 13 million gallons of water and 52.65 MW peak power, while the Papillion site used 548 million gallons—with Google's three sites collectively expecting over $117 million in 2025 tax refunds. Nebraska's six reporting data centers consumed 765 million gallons of water last year.
HN Discussion:
  • ↓Water usage is trivial compared to agriculture, undermining the article's framing
  • ↓Data center resource concerns are a moral panic driven by anti-AI backlash
  • ~Article underplays the story by focusing on the smaller Lincoln facility rather than larger sites
  • ↓Questioning whether 'water usage' is even a meaningful metric since water isn't consumed
  • ↓Complaints should target AI/data centers directly, not proxy metrics like water