"Big Tech’s AI frenzy is pressing up electricity demand around the country. The power grid is stuck in natural gas-fuelled inertia, slow to bring new clean energy projects online and leaving consumers on the hook."
"The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed new measures aimed at speeding construction of infrastructure needed for the rapid buildup of data centers for artificial intelligence that would enable companies to start building before obtaining air permits."
"Misleading Mailer: Despite locals’ health concerns, the Chamber of Commerce has gone to unusual lengths to promote a data center, including sending a mailer with inaccurate information. 'Concierge Service': The chamber has a five-member operations team dedicated to xAI, one of Musk’s companies, as it tries to transform Memphis into a global hub of technological innovation."
"With electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, President Donald Trump has lashed out at renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, blaming them for skyrocketing energy costs. ... Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes, which are based on increased demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change."
"Alabama state regulators have cleared the way for Alabama Power to purchase an 895-megawatt gas-fired power plant, further tying Alabama’s largest electric utility to climate-polluting natural gas for decades to come."
"New Michigan data center plans are on the verge of triggering an “offramp” in the state’s nation-leading climate laws that would effectively halt the shift to renewables less than two years after the plans were approved."
"From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies."
"The Trump administration has unveiled plans to speed the development of the highly polluting artificial intelligence sector, sparking outrage from climate advocates. Rolled out on Wednesday, the 28-page scheme pledges to remove so-called “bureaucratic red tape” and streamline permitting for datacenters, semiconductor manufacturing facilities and fossil fuel infrastructure."
"The White House released a sweeping action plan Wednesday to boost development of artificial intelligence, a move that could influence the build-out of the grid and the electricity mix for decades."
"Grid experts say DOE’s new forecast of major blackout risks by 2030 misuses data to justify the Trump administration’s push to force dirty plants to stay open."
