Someone willing to pay a premium to build solar+batteries, geothermal, and nuclear, in order to bring them down the cost curve and make them cheaper f

AI will guzzle energy, and that’s good for the climate.

submited by

Style Pass

2024-10-02 16:30:05

Someone willing to pay a premium to build solar+batteries, geothermal, and nuclear, in order to bring them down the cost curve and make them cheaper for everyone.

For the first time ever, securing clean 24/7 power is an urgent strategic priority for the most powerful organisations in the world:

Many are worried that AI will increase emissions. This is true in the short term - emissions will probably rise for a few years. But it misses the bigger picture.

Clean energy technologies are famous for their learning rates - they get cheaper as you build more of them [footnote 1]. Data centres create price-insensitive clean power demand that will foot the bill of expensive early projects.

Tech companies have the highest revenue per tonnes of CO2 emitted of any type of company. They are extremely cash-rich, and they are willing to pay extra for clean energy.

Of course, tech companies will not wait a decade to build a nuclear plant before switching on their data centre. More on that later.