A supersonic engine core makes the perfect power turbine

Environmental & Ethical Concerns

• Many comments are outraged that the “solution” to AI’s power needs is more fossil fuel, not renewables, grid upgrades, or nuclear.
• Burning large amounts of gas for “predictive text” / “AI slop” is seen as morally indefensible and trivial compared to real scientific uses (e.g. protein folding, simulations).
• Several people stress local pollution, CO₂ emissions, and the absurdity of celebrating gas turbines as a flex in 2025.

Skepticism About Technical Claims

• Multiple posters say aeroderivative gas turbines have existed for decades; the “supersonic core” marketing is viewed as hype.
• Specialists in turbines argue there’s no meaningful difference vs existing power turbines; real limits are set by turbine inlet temperature and Carnot efficiency.
• Lack of hard numbers (efficiency, fuel input per MW, emissions) is repeatedly flagged as a red flag.
• The design appears to be simple-cycle, not combined-cycle, so significantly less efficient than best-in-class plants.

Grid, Renewables, and China

• Long subthread debates China’s energy build‑out: one side says the article misleads by omitting solar; the other emphasizes coal is still dominant in absolute terms.
• Broader discussion on how high-renewables grids handle the “last few percent” of demand: overbuild, storage (batteries, pumped hydro, thermal), hydrogen/e‑fuels, or gas turbines as peakers.
• Some argue turbines remain useful even in a mostly-renewable world; others push for designing systems that make them unnecessary.

AI Demand, Bubble Talk, and Business Strategy

• One detailed comment notes AI currently uses <1% of grid power; most future demand growth is from electrification of transport and industry, not GPUs.
• Several see this as classic AI‑bubble behaviour and “grift”: name‑dropping AI and China to chase capital and subsidies.
• Others think, from Boom’s perspective, a turbine product is a pragmatic pivot for revenue and engine-core testing, given doubts about supersonic passenger demand.

Local Impacts & Practicalities

• Noise near data centers, siting, permitting, and fuel logistics (pipelines vs trucked LNG) are key concerns.
• Some argue small gas plants near gas fields or flared-gas sites are already common (crypto mining, inference workloads), and this is just a scaled-up version.
• Data center 24/7 reliability vs maintenance-intensive aero engines is questioned; redundancy strategies are discussed.

Meta & Tone

• Several comments criticize the article’s style: AI‑hype framing instead of “we make electricity,” personality flexes, and LinkedIn‑like corpospeak.
• Moderators step in to rein in uncivil, angry posts.