"It's a massive growth engine for the U.S. economy and brimming with once-unimaginable investment and experimentation. The tech and energy industries - and perceptions of them - are shifting fast and often in counterintuitive ways. The big picture: AI sucks up most of the media and public attention. But our energy landscape is also changing at an unprecedented clip to power that AI."
"A data center land rush is pushing up electricity prices, igniting NIMBY fights and straining grid reliability. The latest sign of stress: The NAACP is holding an event this week called "Stop Dirty Data" to highlight its concerns. Skyrocketing power demand is boosting once-too-expensive clean-energy technologies - from advanced nuclear to carbon capture - by giving them massive prospective customers such as Google and Microsoftwilling to pay top dollar."
AI-driven data centers are creating unprecedented electricity demand, prompting a land rush that raises power prices, strains grid reliability, and triggers NIMBY and equity conflicts. The expansion creates a backlash manifested in community opposition and organized events such as the NAACP's "Stop Dirty Data." Skyrocketing demand makes once-costly clean-energy technologies—advanced nuclear and carbon capture—economically viable by attracting large corporate customers willing to pay premium rates. AI accelerates cleantech research, aiding geothermal discovery and potentially speeding fusion progress. Simultaneously, AI enhances oil and gas operations through improved subsurface mapping and recovery, potentially unlocking vast additional reserves.
Read at Axios
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