The Trump administration wants to build data center projects on Superfund sites, and with as little oversight as possible.
Big Tech has turned to everything from nuclear reactors to coal mines to get enough power to run new data centers demanded by the pivot to AI, but utility companies want to make sure they’re not stuck footing the bill.
They’re increasingly demanding that tech giants sign longer electricity contracts and commit to paying for surplus power regardless of whether they use it, to avoid the extra infrastructure costs ending up on consumers’ energy bills.
Plans are in place to revive a shuttered plant in Kentucky. The Trump administration and Big Tech are trying to revitalize the nuclear energy industry to meet growing electricity demand from AI data centers.
It’s part of the company’s new push to support the development of technologies that can store renewable energy for longer periods of time than lithium-ion batteries. It’s the kind of thing that might be able to help Google meet growing data center energy demands and maybe even stop its fossil fuel emissions from continuing to rise.
Google is partnering with the company Energy Dome that uses carbon dioxide to store renewable energy in the form of pressure and heat.
[energy-storage.news]
It saw a 6 percent rise in planet-heating pollution last year, according to the company’s latest sustainability report. As it expands data centers for AI, Amazon is moving further away from a goal it set in 2019 to reach net zero carbon emissions.
“One of the biggest challenges with scaling AI is increased energy demands for data centers,” Amazon’s sustainability report says.
Stats released Monday showed that in 2023, the state’s estimated annual clean energy percentage (energy produced from nuclear, large hydro, and renewable sources like solar or wind) crossed the two-thirds mark, exceeding the previous record of 64 percent in 2019 and 61 percent in 2022.
The state has also been on a record pace of adding more clean energy capacity over the last few years, although Trump’s recently passed budget bill is adding some hurdles for future projects.
The bill quickly sunsets incentives that Congress approved in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act that was expected to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 40 percent from peak levels by 2030. On top of more pollution, wholesale electricity prices could also increase by 25 percent by 2030 as a result of the bill, according to one initial analysis
The bill now heads to President Donald Trump to sign into law.
The US is rich with oil and gas so that’s how the Trump administration sees the world. China, lacking those same resources, now dominates solar and battery production. The New York Times explores the winners and losers of these competing strategies, but I think you can guess which country is best positioned to capitalize on future demand.
Tech companies are making bold bets on reaching the “Holy Grail” of energy, nuclear fusion. It’s a dream scientists have been chasing for decades, and that many believe is still decades away at best. Nevertheless, the energy needs of AI and an arms race with China are pumping billions of dollars into efforts to make fusion power a reality.
[washingtonpost.com]
Senate Republicans’ version of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — similar to the bill the House passed last month — would slash tax incentives for electric vehicles, wind, and solar power.
Industry leaders warn that it could be a killer blow to new energy projects and factories in the US. “This bill will end any hope of onshoring domestic manufacturing,” Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition, said in a press statement today.
This saga has spanned several administrations since President Obama first tried to enact limits on greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change. Donald Trump tried to replace those rules with his own, weaker standards, only to be stymied by Joe Biden changing course.
“We are proposing to repeal Obama and Biden rules that have been criticized as regulating coal, oil, and gas out of existence,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced today.
[politico.com]
While sales of Tesla cars have suffered greatly since Elon Musk extended his arm and wallet to politics globally, his Starlink and Tesla Energy products have continued to do well. There’s lots of EV competition, but zero alternatives for cheap and fast consumer internet that can be quickly deployed in data dead zones, or whole home battery backup systems with a proven track record and terrific user experience. Although the competitors are quickly gearing up to address the latter.
2024 holds the current record, beating 2023. Now, there’s an 80 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will take the title, according to a recent forecast from the World Meteorological Organization.
Unless countries can transition to carbon pollution-free energy like wind and solar power, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels will keep on heating up our planet.
The Environmental Protection Agency is crafting a plan to eliminate greenhouse gas pollution limits on coal and gas-fired plants, the New York Times reports. Power plant emissions account for about a quarter of the nation’s planet-heating emissions.
He signed a series of executive orders today meant to revive the nuclear energy industry in the US, which has struggled to compete with cheaper sources of electricity. The president could also hit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with layoffs as part of a broader reorganization of the agency.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins claim to have developed a solid-state refrigeration tech that could increase efficiency by 70 percent compared to traditional thermoelectric materials.
The thin-film material called “controlled hierarchically engineered superlattice structures” (CHESS for short) is a thermoelectric material that could be used to make super-energy-efficient, super-slim fridges. And they might come from Samsung.
Samsung Research was part of the project, and the electronics giant just launched a new line of fridges with a thermoelectric Peltier module.
Updated May 22nd to clarify the efficiency comparison.
The Empire Wind project off the coast of New York can restart construction, about a month after the Trump administration abruptly issued a stop work order. The project was reportedly bleeding $50 million a week during the pause as President Trump waged his war against windmills.
The company building it had considered taking legal action against the Trump administration; it already had federal and state permits in place and construction is roughly 30 percent complete.
