California almonds use 1 trillion gallons
California almond farming alone consumes 1 trillion gallons of water annually — 60 times the water consumption of all US data centers combined.
Snapshot · Moonshots with Peter Diamandis
Urgent Update- AI Sputnik Moment: Kimi K3 Released w/ Emad Mostaque | Ep. 272
Explore episode
Jul 19, 2026
Where this was said
Data Center Water Myths: Golf Courses vs. the AI Panic
At 1:33:50 · chapter starts 1:31:10
Diamandis presents a viral chart comparing US data center water consumption (17 billion gallons per year, per Lawrence Berkeley National Labs) against American golf courses (531 billion gallons — 31 times more) and California almond farming (1 trillion gallons — 60 times more)[1]. Salim Ismail calls the anti-AI water narrative 'completely non-data-driven garbage bullshit,' while Dave Blundin warns that the water argument is so easily disproved that the mob will simply move to a different, semi-sane but still wrong complaint — and that the real danger is a populist moratorium movement of the kind that paralyzed nuclear power. Emad Mostaque adds that McDonald's Big Mac production uses roughly twice the water of all golf courses combined, suggesting the underlying concern is not really about water. Alex Wissner-Gross raises the possibility of a foreign influence operation behind the anti-AI data center narrative, noting the Dyson Swarm would solve the water issue entirely by moving compute to closed-loop orbital systems.
Golf Courses vs. Data Centers: The Water War Is a Lie
The loudest criticism of AI data centers — water consumption — collapses on contact with data. US data centers use 17 billion gallons annually; American golf courses use 531 billion gallons — 31 times more. California almond farming alone consumes 1 trillion gallons — 60 times all data centers combined. The anti-AI water narrative is, as Salim Ismail puts it, 'completely non-data-driven garbage.'
Data centers use 17B gallons vs golf 531B
US data centers consume 17 billion gallons of water annually according to Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, while American golf courses consume 531 billion gallons — 31 times more.
Orbital Data Centers: Sam and Elon Actually Agree
Sam Altman says orbital data centers are 'ridiculous' this decade. Elon says they'll launch in 2 years. But listen closely: Altman says space won't matter 'this decade' — which has only 3.5 years left. Elon's launch timeline agrees. The real story is OpenAI's conflict of interest as it retreats from owning data centers and delays its IPO, while Anthropic partners with SpaceX AI for compute.
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