Data centers accounted for around 50% of all electricity demand growth in the U.S. last year, according to the IEA, far surpassing the rise in electricity usage in the residential, industrial, and transport sectors.
Burning gas and propane for cooking, water heating and space heating in California homes and businesses creates 10% of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. It also releases pollutants indoors.
"We were considering multiple forms of capital when we started. It just felt like the opportunity is so large that venture capital gives us the opportunity to take those risks upfront and have the possibility to generate an outsized return."
Over five days in December 2025, more than 200 real-time simulated "grid events" were sent to the site to test the Emerald software's ability to dynamically adjust the datacentre's power consumption. Emerald AI's platform was able to adjust power use to the requested level and cut demand by up to 40% while critical workloads ran as normal.
