Battery manufacturer Eos launches partnership with Turbine-X to accelerate fossil gas generation for data centers using simple-cycle turbines. Not mentioned here: simple cycle units are ridiculously inefficient, burning 35% more fuel for the same electricity output.
Homeland Security attorney: the "ICE Glasses" in Trump's budget “might be portrayed as seeking to identify illegal aliens on the streets, but [use of this tech] affects all Americans, particularly protestors.” We're entering a world of ubiquitous surveillance - unless Congress starts doing its job.
Fermat Capital Management's John Seo: Without catastrophe bonds, the ability of data center developers to arrange financing could be at risk. Facilities are moving away from hurricanes but directly into the path of other severe convective storms.
The data center industry's obsession with secrecy is partly responsible for this planning conundrum. Among the reasons MISO gives for forecasting & execution risk: “Limited data transparency and planning visibility — including no centralized data clearinghouse [and] opaque project pipelines."
MISO anticipates 35% load growth in the next decade due to data centers. But it's candid about much of this is pure guesswork: "Future data center power demand is 'highly dependent' on the emerging AI industry being able to successfully find routes to profitability."
Seems like this would reduce both the climate impact and the local heat island effect.
"A growing gap between the scale of investment in AI and operators’ ability to deliver the infrastructure needed to support it."
Significant US data center capacity at risk of delay
FT looked at satellite imagery of other big data center projects. Its verdict: progress is much slower than the AI hype machine would suggest.
We've always known that the hyperscale data center boom is highly speculative. Could 2026 be the year when the media starts serious digging into project announcements and helps us figure out what's real - before any more fossil infrastructure and AI-driven rate increases get approved?
The CEO is spinning this as attributable to problems with the supply chains of cooling systems. But the Fermi's problems only came to light thanks to satellite images collected by @michael-thomas.bsky.social of CleanView so maybe the CEO is not the most reliable source.
Fermi Energy's "President Donald Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus", which would have burned 17 GWs of power, mostly fossil gas and mostly onsite, is in trouble. No anchor tenant has been found, construction has been delayed & the stock price is plummeting.
What does AI success look like from Big Tech's perspective? Convincing non-US folks to support trillions of dollars in recurring payments to a handful of US tech firms. Also: MAGA trade policy would need to be reversed, since buying at such unprecedented scale requires selling something in return.
By defending fossil-fuel exposure, African financial institutions are risking breaches of their fiduciary duty. Fiduciary duty requires "reallocation of capital toward energy systems that strengthen economic resilience and provide more predictable long-term returns."
Any discussion of AI data center resistance also needs to take a hard look at how Big Tech has interacted with the communities where it hopes to build its gargantuan projects. The record is not pretty - secret deals, deceptive PR, outright dismissals of community concerns about their air, water etc.
If you want to equate the data center boom with decarbonization of transport (or buildings or heavy industry), you need to explain why the products emerging from the data center boom are good for us. Doubt anyone will embrace the tech simply because "we need to learn to build things again."
Folks I know who oppose data centers regardless of power source aren't against all grid expansion. They want grid expansion for reasons that benefit society, and they cite evidence that the tech industry's big GenAI project is causing far more harm to society than good.
Another swat against the left unsupported by data: "if you are against data center growth because it will place upward pressure on grid demand, then you should also be against electric cars and buses and trucks, electric heating [and entire decarbonization project]"
This recent @climatepower.bsky.social survey suggests that many people's views about data centers depend on how they are powered. "Voters support data centers powered by clean energy by a +25-point margin and oppose those powered by fossil fuels by a 16-point margin."
Usually a fan of the writings of @coldeye.earth but this description of the progressive uprising against data centers is a cheap shot. Where are the data supporting the claim that these groups are the very ones that have stopped "lots of wind and solar projects"? www.coldeye.earth/p/build-noth...
Deliberate blindness to climate risks at the leading credit ratings agencies is giving market actors all the wrong incentives. By not rewarding companies that effectively manage climate risks with a lower cost of capital, they reward the unsustainable business practices that destabilize our economy.
In many cases, incoherence seems to be the point.
Retirements of five "dilapidated and unreliable" coal plants are being delayed by Trump, costing utility consumers millions of dollars. Three are in Indiana, where Gov. Mike Braun (R) and PUC chair Andy Zay are raising alarms about rising utility bills.
Can't imagine that the data center industry has any plan to cover the costs to PJM ratepayers for building the grid infrastructure to support this. Governors from PJM states, especially those with climate targets, should be weighing in heavily against this plan.
This would a huge amount of damage to the climate, local air and water quality, and consumers' pocketbooks even if only a portion of this insane plan were to be implemented.
U.S. grid-battery production has gone from 0 in 2024 to 145 GWh/year by the end of 2026, enough to provide batteries to support all wind and solar in the U.S. #EnergySky
www.electronicdesign.com/technologies...
Remember that the Russians banned Bluesky just the other day
A battle of heavyweights: Exxon v California. One side is arguing it has "free speech" rights to continue its multi-decadal project of lying about climate change, the other is asking all large companies in the state to truthfully disclose how they are handling climate risks. I like CA's odds.
Screenshot of opening screen when logging into Bluesky
Bluesky login producing a blank screen once again. Wondering if this site's shift to AI coding is the first step in the descent to enshittification.
I'm pretty sure we could round up a few thousand volunteers to pitch in.
@janeese4dc.bsky.social hope you are taking notes.