UTSKRIFT 🔗
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Welcome to Episode 99 of Bitcoin & AI Data
Centers, the podcast where we dive into the
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fascinating worlds of data centers, artificial
intelligence, and everything Bitcoin and
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crypto.
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I am your host, Roni, coming to you from a
secret location in Wakanda.
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Today, we have some intriguing updates on
Meta's data center electricity consumption and
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how it's ramping up its artificial intelligence
capabilities.
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So, let's get right into it!
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Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has seen a
significant increase in its data center
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electricity consumption, reaching a whopping
14,975,435 megawatt-hours in 2023.
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That's a 34 percent increase from the previous
year.
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But what's even more striking is the
electricity usage in its leased data center
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facilities, which saw a 97 percent jump
year-over-year, hitting 2,187,020
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megawatt-hours.
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When we break it down, it's clear that Meta's
data centers are real powerhouses.
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Across the company's 16 owned facilities, the
Prineville campus in Oregon was the biggest
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consumer of electricity, using 1,375,321
megawatt-hours.
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This was followed by the Altoona facility in
Iowa at 1,243,306 megawatt-hours and the Sarpy
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data center in Nebraska at 1,148,091
megawatt-hours.
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Electricity intensity per monthly active user
also grew to 0.0041 megawatt-hours, which is a
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32 percent increase.
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Similarly, electricity intensity per million
United States Dollars in revenue increased to
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131.42, up 33 percent.
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According to Meta's latest sustainability
report, all of this electricity is sourced from
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renewable energy.
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The company relies on power purchase agreements
and renewable energy certificates to achieve
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this.
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The Power Usage Effectiveness, or PUE, remained
steady at 1.08.
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On a positive note, Meta has managed to reduce
its fuel consumption significantly.
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Natural gas usage fell by 36 percent to
4,818,116 therms.
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Diesel distillate fuel oil number 2 dropped
25.5 percent to 1,025,707 gallons, while
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distillate fuel oil number 4 fell 3.42 percent
to 699,427 gallons.
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Gasoline usage saw a dramatic drop of 81.4
percent to just 22,309 gallons.
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Additionally, Meta has started using
hydrotreated vegetable oil at its site in
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Clonee, Ireland, with an initial deployment of
1,144 gallons.
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The company is testing this diesel replacement
through 2024 to see if it can transition the
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rest of its generators globally.
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Water consumption is another area where Meta
has seen some changes.
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Data center water withdrawal increased to 3,881
megaliters, up seven percent.
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However, in locations like Altoona, Clonee,
Odense, and Prineville, water usage actually
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dropped.
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On the flip side, water withdrawal from
groundwater sources increased by 137 percent to
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88 megaliters.
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Water withdrawals from areas with high or
extremely high baseline water stress also saw a
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20 percent increase, reaching 1,360 megaliters.
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Through its purchased electricity, Meta used an
estimated embedded 55,475 megaliters of water,
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up 35 percent.
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But it's not all bad news.
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Meta's water restoration efforts have been
impressive, reaching 5,889 megaliters, which is
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a 150 percent increase.
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The company's Water Usage Effectiveness, or
WUE, fell to 0.18 from 0.20.
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However, water withdrawal per monthly active
user increased seven percent to 0.001410
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liters, and water withdrawal per million United
States Dollars in revenue also increased seven
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percent to 45 liters.
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Looking ahead, Meta is optimistic about its
future sustainability efforts.
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'Our newest AI-optimized data centers currently
under construction will feature dry-cooling
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technology,' the company said in its report.
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'Dry cooling uses air as the cooling medium,
minimizing water usage, making it the most
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efficient cooling technology for these
geographic locations.'
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Meta is aggressively building out its data
center footprint, with capital expenditures
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hitting $8.5 billion in the last quarter alone.
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The company expects costs to rise over the next
year as it continues to develop its generative
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artificial
Load full transcript
intelligence infrastructure.
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Now let's switch gears and talk about Bitcoin.
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According to QCP Capital, Bitcoin price
volatility is likely to ease as the market
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anticipates potential interest rate cuts by the
United States Federal Reserve.
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The analysts at QCP Capital expect decreased
Bitcoin price volatility in the lead-up to the
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United States non-farm payroll report next
week.
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This report, along with Friday’s United States
Gross Domestic Product data, is expected to
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provide greater clarity on the likelihood and
potential scale of a rate cut at the next
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Federal Open Market Committee meeting on
September 18th.
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QCP Capital analysts stated that market
volatility is expected to continue its
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downtrend as participants position themselves
for potential rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
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The United States non-farm payrolls data, which
will be released on September 6th, is a closely
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watched metric that can significantly influence
the Federal Reserve's decisions on its interest
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rate trajectory.
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The previous non-farm payrolls report in early
August revealed an unexpected rise in the
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United States unemployment rate to 4.3 percent
from 4.1 percent.
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This led to a global market sell-off amid
concerns that the Federal Reserve may be
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lagging in its rate-cutting efforts.
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The analysts also noted that today's upcoming
United States Gross Domestic Product report
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could influence Bitcoin's price performance,
although they believe it will likely have a
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smaller effect on the cryptocurrency market.
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This is particularly true if the report
reinforces the prevailing narrative of a
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slowing United States economy.
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While the economy has shown signs of slowing
down, it remains uncertain whether a recession
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is imminent.
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In the derivatives market, participants are
hedging for potential near-term downside
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movements for both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
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QCP Capital analysts pointed out that risk
reversals until October are still skewed
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towards puts in both Bitcoin and Ethereum,
indicating that the market remains cautious
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about the downside.
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As of now, the price of Bitcoin has decreased
by 1 percent in the past 24 hours, trading at
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$59,500.
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Bitcoin dominance is at 53.9 percent, while
Ethereum dominance is at 13.9 percent,
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according to CoinGecko data.
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And that wraps up today’s episode of Bitcoin &
AI Data Centers.
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We covered a lot of ground, from Meta's data
center electricity consumption to the
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anticipated easing of Bitcoin volatility as the
market awaits potential Federal Reserve rate
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cuts.
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Thank you for tuning in, and I hope you found
these updates as fascinating as I did.
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Until next time, this is Roni, signing off from
our secret location in Wakanda.
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Stay curious, stay informed, and keep exploring
the world of data centers, artificial
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intelligence, and cryptocurrency.
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Goodbye!