Data Centers with Eric Masanet - #21

<p>In this episode I talk to Dr. Eric Masanet. Eric is the Professor and Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science at the University of California Santa Barbara. The core focus of the episode is Data Centers. In the episode we start at a high level where Eric defines what a Data Center is, the stakeholders of a Data Center, GPU vs CPU compute, the lifecycle of chips, the potential energy efficiency gains of compute, Data Center water usage, the sparse data on Data Centers and the best and worst case scenarios for Data Center sustainability in the future. I hope you enjoy! </p><p><br></p><p>VIDEO: Eric’s Testimony to Congress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE0be5uqjuw</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>PAPERS:</p><p><br></p><p>Eric’s PhD Thesis on E-waste (paywalled behind ProQuest): https://www.proquest.com/docview/305213050 </p><p><br></p><p>GPU Lifetimes on Titan Supercomputer: Survival Analysis and Reliability: https://christian-engelmann.de/publications/ostrouchov20gpu.pdf</p><p><br></p><p>With the Right Developer, Technological Progress Doesn’t Mean Data Center Obsolescence: https://www.streamdatacenters.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/SDC-Brief-Data-Center-Obsolescence-20250416.pdf</p><p><br></p><p>How Hungry is AI? Benchmarking Energy, Water, and Carbon Footprint of </p><p><br></p><p>LLM Inference: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.095982024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report: https://eta.lbl.gov/publications/2024-lbnl-data-center-energy-usage-report</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>ARTICLES:</p><p><br></p><p>Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE): https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling/waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment-weee_en</p><p><br></p><p>Apple expands the use of recycled materials across its products: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/04/apple-expands-the-use-of-recycled-materials-across-its-products/</p><p><br></p><p>The 2025 Data Center Power Report by Bloom Energy: https://resources.bloomenergy.com/data-center-power-report</p><p><br></p><p>NEWS: Sanders: Yes. We Need a Moratorium On Data Center Construction.: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-yes-we-need-a-moratorium-on-data-center-construction/</p><p><br></p><p>Ratepayer Protection Pledge: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/03/ratepayer-protection-pledge/</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>BOOKS:</p><p><br></p><p>Connections by James Burke: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743299558 CONNECT: </p><p><br></p><p>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-dolinay-frm-96a289106/ </p><p><br></p><p>GitHub: https://github.com/ad17171717 X: https://twitter.com/DolinayG </p><p><br></p><p>Odysee: https://odysee.com/@adriandolinay:0 </p><p>Medium: https://medium.com/@adriandolinay</p><p><br></p><p>PODCAST: </p><p><br></p><p>Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-aspiring-stem-geek/id1765996824 Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Aspiring-STEM-Geek/B0DC73S9SN</p><p><br></p><p>iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/202676097/ </p><p>Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/60dPNJbDPaPw7ru8g5btxV</p><p><br></p><p>|-Video Chapters-|</p><p>0:00 – Intro</p><p>1:48 – Eric’s interesting in building things growing up</p><p>3:00 – Studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin Madison</p><p>4:34 – Eric’s PhD Thesis on minimizing Electronic Waste</p><p>14:55 – Defining a Data Center</p><p>18:06 – Stakeholders of a Data Center</p><p>21:59 – Central Processing Units (CPUs) vs Graphical Processing Units (GPUs)</p><p>24:30 – Lifecycles of Computer Chips</p><p>30:58 – Will the energy consumption from a GPU query become as efficient as a Google Search over time?</p><p>37:15 – Are Data Centers making electricity more expensive?</p><p>42:34 – Data Center water usage</p><p>48:39 – How Data Center builders decide where to build</p><p>57:02 – Google’s Hamina Data Centers, an example of sustainable Data Center builds?</p><p>1:01:34 – Data collection on Data Centers</p><p>1:08:36 – The United