Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law blog — September 9, 2024
The concepts have come into dramatic real-world tension as private and public actors seek to accommodate the digital and environmental imperatives for green energy. The concepts are in conflict as private and government actors try to meet the digital and environmental imperatives of green energy. The rapid increase in power required to energize and cool the servers is a major cause. This is due to the explosive growth of data centers, crypto miner and other computing point sources. Data centers accounted for 3% of U.S. energy demand in 2015 and are expected to reach 9% by 2030. AI will be responsible for a 160% increase in data center demand. A commentator noted, “We haven’t seen
in a generation.” In order to achieve their goals, the companies are contracting with incremental alternative energy sources that would have otherwise replaced coal- and gasfired power in industrial, commercial, and residential applications, as well as public works. S&P Global’s March 2024 report found that the tech industry led the market in clean energy purchases. It accounted for over two-thirds (67%) of all deals concluded since February 2023. The growth of data center energy consumption may be outpacing the production of renewable energy. Data centers may compete with other cleantech for limited clean energy resources. There are other ways to combat climate change than renewable energy. A number of projects are capturing ambient carbon from the air, both manmade and natural (reforestation and afforestation) as well as biological sources of carbon in soil and oceans. Direct air capture (DAC) projects entail large machinery to absorb carbon in the atmosphere–machinery that itself is energy intensive.
These simmering factors came to a boil with the announcement last week by CarbonCapture Inc. that it would suspend its development of a DAC plant in Wyoming and assess relocation of the project, Project Bison, to another state. Project Bison has been put on hold not because of regulatory hurdles (its Class VI permits were secured) or funding (it was selected to be part of a DAC hub that received $12.5 million from DOE funds). The company claimed that it was unable to secure enough zero-emission energy due to the fierce competition in Wyoming’s market. Due to Wyoming’s ambitions of becoming carbon negative, technology companies have targeted Wyoming for data centers and other similar facilities. They also have taken a strong position with green energy sources. The tensions between AI, data centers, and green power sources are not going to go away. Policymakers, entrepreneurs and advisers (including Pillsbury’s own data centers team) must focus on efficient use, rapid prudent deployment, and prioritization of energy generation and transmission across the country and globe.[growth like]RELATED ARTICLES
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