[conspire] Discussion: Using LLMs the Right Way: 10/1/2025 7pm Eastern Daylight time

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

Now, line by line, how much of that is inaccurate and/or incomplete? And why?

Cite actual references.

Deirdre

> On Oct 5, 2025, at 2:55 AM, Ivan Sergio Borgonovo <ivan at webthatworks.it> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On 10/5/25 3:59 AM, Deirdre Saoirse Moen wrote:
>>>> On Oct 4, 2025, at 12:32, Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I don't understand the point of the preceding paragraph.
>> Perhaps you could get one of them fancy LLMs to explain it to you.
> 
> DONE
> 
> This situation in Oregon is highly relevant to Large Language Models (LLMs) and data centers because it highlights the growing **conflict between the massive energy demands of the tech industry, particularly AI, and the capacity and cost of the public power grid.**
> 
> Here is a breakdown of the relevance of each point:
> 
> ### 1. The Energy Demand of LLMs and Data Centers
> 
> * **LLMs are Power-Hungry:** Large Language Models (like the one you are interacting with) require immense computational power for both **training** and **inference** (running the model for user queries). This computation is housed in **data centers**.
> * **Data Centers as "Voracious" Users:** Data centers, especially those hosting AI and cloud computing, are industrial-scale operations that consume as much electricity as small-to-medium-sized cities. The demand from a single, large-scale data center can be in the tens or even hundreds of megawatts (MW). For example, one large data center can use the energy equivalent of tens of thousands of homes.
> * **The AI Boom Exacerbates Demand:** The recent explosion in generative AI has created a new, rapidly accelerating demand for electricity. Some projections suggest data center energy consumption could *double or triple* in the next few years.
> 
> ### 2. Oregon's Attractiveness and Subsequent Strain
> 
> * **The Hydro Lure:** Oregon historically attracted data center companies (like Google and Amazon Web Services) because of its **relatively cheap and clean hydropower electricity** from the Columbia River dams and a cool climate ideal for cooling servers. This was a major business incentive.
> * **Exceeding Capacity:** The original abundance of electricity and low rates began to be strained by the massive and continuous influx of data centers. Even though hydropower is clean, it is a **constrained resource** that can be "maxed out." This rapid and dramatic load growth has put enormous stress on the local power grid and required expensive upgrades to transmission and other infrastructure.
> 
> ### 3. Relevance of the New Laws (The POWER Act)
> 
> The laws you mentioned are a direct regulatory response to the energy demands of large users like data centers:
> 
> * **Strict Limitations on Construction (The POWER Act):**
>    * Oregon passed legislation (like the **POWER Act**, or HB 3546) to create a **separate customer classification and rate class** for "large energy use facilities" (data centers, cryptocurrency, etc., typically those using over $20$ MW).
>    * The primary goal is to **stop shifting the high costs** of grid expansion and new infrastructure (needed to serve these massive new loads) onto residential and small business customers, whose rates have reportedly risen by as much as $50\%$ in recent years.
>    * The law effectively **limits growth** or makes it significantly **more expensive** for new, large-scale data centers to be built, especially those powering LLMs and AI, which rely on the lowest possible electricity rates to be profitable.
> 
> * **Rate Caps (Winter/15-Month Limits):**
>    * These rate-capping measures are aimed at **protecting residential ratepayers** from the volatility and significant increases in electric bills that have been driven, in part, by the surging demand from data centers.
>    * By ensuring residential stability, the state is essentially drawing a line, asserting that the expansion of the tech industry will no longer be subsidized by other ratepayers.
> 
> In summary, the Oregon laws represent a crucial moment where the environmental and economic cost of the **AI and LLM boom** is becoming a significant political issue, forcing a state known for cheap power to actively **limit the expansion of the very industry it once heavily courted.**
> 
> 
> --
> Ivan Sergio Borgonovo
> https://www.webthatworks.it https://www.borgonovo.net
> 
> 
> 
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