Top all-time · #7540
Andy Masley
Personal blog · andymasley.com/writingaiscience
Andy Masley's personal blog at andymasley.com covers ai and science. Since 2026, 11 different Hacker News readers have linked it 13 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-14, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (13) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Andy Masley's writing and AI prompt-footprint calculator to argue that AI water use and data-centre concerns are overstated, and to cite its estimates in energy and water debates.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 13 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writer and researcher exploring AI, the environment, animal welfare, and effective altruism. Former physics teacher turned full-time writer.
Most-linked posts?
- /visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2026-06-12
- /writing/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-05-17
- /writing/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-04-18
- /writing/data-centers-heat-exhaust-is-not/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-06-03
What Hacker News says?
> There are plenty of documented problems with water usage of data centres. I would not be so sure, this article seems pretty comprehensive in questioning these supposed problems: https://andymasley.com/writing/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake/ I agree that the growth of new data centers could be problematic in some areas especially as the infra build-out ramps up. But as many sibbling comments imply, that water can be pu…
Comment linking /writing/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake/
on “The moral panic over data centres is foolish”You get $300/falsehood[0]. Can you engage with one drop of the firehose, perhaps? edit to add: Wait, is he actually a self-proclaimed libertarian? Is there a source for that? [0] https://andymasley.com/writing/
Comment linking /writing/
on “The AI water issue is fake”https://andymasley.com/writing/ was 50$ bounty, now 300$ - that's an unusually brazen stance.
Comment linking /writing/
on “The AI water issue is fake”I tried using this calculator: https://www.andymasley.com/visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/ It doesn't have Claude Fable yet, so I went with GPT 5.5 Pro. And so I'd estimate it at 22 gallons of water used (different from consumed, of course). That's quite a lot! It amazes me how much the different use cases and models use dramatically different amounts of water. My takeaway from playing with that calculator has been the…
Comment linking /visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
on “Claude Fable is relentlessly proactive”Here's a handy calculator you can use to estimate how much CO2 and water I wasted with my coding agent session: https://www.andymasley.com/visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
Comment linking /visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
on “Claude Fable is relentlessly proactive”This is kinda debunked / obviously false. It's almost entirely a land use issue: a building will create a heat island. Data centers aren't using enough energy to make a significant difference. More on it at [0], but it doesn't take anything beyond a basic energy calculation to know that 1GW of energy is not going to have a significant effect "6.2 miles away". [0] https://andymasley.com/writing/data-centers-heat-exha…
Comment linking /writing/data-centers-heat-exhaust-is-not/
on “Nvidia's 45°C cooling design cuts data center water use to near zero”I'm pretty sure it's mostly ideological problems with AI, rather than any concrete impact on the communities data centers are near. Data centers are just not that big or impactful a structure, and they're also not particularly new. What is new is effective AI being a force visible to the lives of people, including activists of various stripes who who are threatened by it and want to work against it by attacking data…
Comment linking /writing/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake/
on “Maine Said No to New Data Centers. Other States Are Racing to Follow”What's massive is the amount of water used for a handful of almonds. Not daily AI use. https://www.andymasley.com/visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
Comment linking /visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
on “How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?”https://www.andymasley.com/visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
Comment linking /visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
on “How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?”Andy Masley does some plausible estimates here based on the data we have that puts 50 prompts per day at around 5kg CO2e/year: https://www.andymasley.com/writing/whats-the-full-hidden-cli... The difference between an average diet and a vegan diet via Scarborough et al. 2023/Poore & Nemecek 2018 is in the realm of 1450kg CO2e/year. Assuming those numbers, that difference is around 14,500 prompts per day , or ~5.3M pr…
Comment linking /writing/whats-the-full-hidden-climate-cost/
on “AI Uses Less Water Than the Public Thinks”I like this summary https://www.andymasley.com/writing/the-ai-water-issue-is-fak... And this is a reply to her comment about water usage where it becomes clear she's not arguing in good faith. https://x.com/AndyMasley/status/1990498830131888173
Comment linking /writing/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake/
on “Emily Bender Sets the Record Straight on "Stochastic Parrots"”Regarding water usage, in general data centers do not use more water than other types of heavy manufacturing > The Georgia data center is only using ~2% of the county’s water. For comparison, a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant is using ~4% of the county’s water. A construction plant for Rivian cars is using about the same amount of water as Meta’s data center. The data center is functioning like any other normal i…
Comment linking /writing/data-centers-heat-exhaust-is-not/
on “If AI Data Centers Are So Great, Why Are They Being Built in Secret?”This is a great data-backed resource to refute made-up claims about data centers: https://www.andymasley.com/visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
Comment linking /visuals/ai-prompt-footprint/
on “Americans are angry about data centers. Politicians are feeling the pressure”
