Data Centers with Eric Masanet - #21

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!

VIDEO: Eric’s Testimony to Congress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE0be5uqjuw

PAPERS:

Eric’s PhD Thesis on E-waste (paywalled behind ProQuest): https://www.proquest.com/docview/305213050

GPU Lifetimes on Titan Supercomputer: Survival Analysis and Reliability: https://christian-engelmann.de/publications/ostrouchov20gpu.pdf

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

How Hungry is AI? Benchmarking Energy, Water, and Carbon Footprint of

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

ARTICLES:

Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE): https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling/waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment-weee_en

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/

The 2025 Data Center Power Report by Bloom Energy: https://resources.bloomenergy.com/data-center-power-report

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/

Ratepayer Protection Pledge: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/03/ratepayer-protection-pledge/

BOOKS:

Connections by James Burke: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743299558 CONNECT:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-dolinay-frm-96a289106/

GitHub: https://github.com/ad17171717 X: https://twitter.com/DolinayG

Odysee: https://odysee.com/@adriandolinay:0

Medium: https://medium.com/@adriandolinay

PODCAST:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-aspiring-stem-geek/id1765996824 Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Aspiring-STEM-Geek/B0DC73S9SN

iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/202676097/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/60dPNJbDPaPw7ru8g5btxV

|-Video Chapters-|

0:00 – Intro

1:48 – Eric’s interesting in building things growing up

3:00 – Studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin Madison

4:34 – Eric’s PhD Thesis on minimizing Electronic Waste

14:55 – Defining a Data Center

18:06 – Stakeholders of a Data Center

21:59 – Central Processing Units (CPUs) vs Graphical Processing Units (GPUs)

24:30 – Lifecycles of Computer Chips

30:58 – Will the energy consumption from a GPU query become as efficient as a Google Search over time?

37:15 – Are Data Centers making electricity more expensive?

42:34 – Data Center water usage

48:39 – How Data Center builders decide where to build

57:02 – Google’s Hamina Data Centers, an example of sustainable Data Center builds?

1:01:34 – Data collection on Data Centers

1:08:36 – The United States agency that could collect data on Data Centers in the future

1:10:59 – Could an industry group collect data on Data Centers?

1:14:51 – How hardware companies can provide more data on chips

1:18:09 – Best and worst case scenarios for Data Center sustainability

1:27:01 – What happens to Data Centers if there is an AI bubble that pops?

1:31:17 – Eric’s ideal Data Center policies

1:37:29 – Being outdoors in California

1:38:56 – Book recommendation