Big Tech is obsessed with finding enough energy and leaves no stone unturned. Bill Gates from Microsoft and Andrés Gluski from AES are leading the way…
Who is Germán & Co?
From Puerto Octay, overlooking Llanquihue Lake in southern Chile, the setting for Gaspar Antillo's film Nobody Knows I'm Here, I try to examine the mind of my friend and colleague, Germán Toro Ghio.
'In the divine vineyard, you choose your own path is a beautiful metaphor.'
As we make our way along the journey of life, some of us choose to travel in the fast lane in vehicles with sleek engines and plush seats, while some of us prefer slower speeds and budget-friendly tolls on scenic routes. Some of us endure crowded buses with loud music or navigate challenging terrains, facing harsh weather conditions and wildlife.
Germán’s stories feature individuals who have chosen unconventional paths in the journey of life: some of them use elevators, rappel down cliffs, or fly in contraptions. His explorations endlessly take his viewers on exciting adventures, from the unease of a Moscow hotel to the excitement of jungle escapades in Nicaragua, from brilliantly-lit worlds pulsing with electricity to dark worlds immersed in infinite blackouts.
Finally, Germán tantalizes us with an eclectic mix in his creative pot, leaving us eager for more of his daily works. His narratives enrich and untangle the most complex history by shedding light on experiences beyond the battlefields and palaces.
Juan Forch
*Juan Forch is a political scientist, filmmaker, writer, publicist and the co-creator of the influential "NO" political campaign, a significant milestone in the history of political communication. His unique creations have inspired an Oscar-nominated film by Pablo Larraín featuring Gael García Bernal, solidifying his legacy as a political marketing mastermind.Tuesday thoughts at dawn…
A recent IPCC report highlights the urgency for immediate and intensified efforts to prevent severe long-term consequences of climate change. As fossil fuels still account for over 80% of global energy consumption, the energy sector must play a central role in addressing this issue.
The energy system is transitioning, with renewable energy generation experiencing rapid growth. The trend towards decarbonization is driven by decreasing costs and increasing investor interest. Decarbonizing the global energy system is a substantial undertaking, both in terms of scale and cost. Given the limited time available, there is a sense of urgency to act.
Transition efforts within the energy sector have predominantly focused on hardware, specifically the development of new low-carbon infrastructure to replace existing carbon-intensive systems. Limited attention and resources have been directed towards advanced digital technologies, specifically artificial intelligence (AI), which can serve as a crucial facilitator for the energy transition. The rapid adoption of this potent technology at larger scales surpasses the pace of integrating new hardware solutions.
Finally, acquiring the necessary permits for establishing new renewable capacity can be a prolonged and convoluted bureaucratic process, which can hinder this shift towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly energy production system. It is important to streamline the permit acquisition process to facilitate this transition.
In December 2023, Energy Central celebrated top contributors in the Energy & Sustainability Network at the 'Top Voices' event. Winners were featured in 6 articles, demonstrating community recognition. The platform enables professionals to share their work, interact with colleagues, and collaborate with influencers. Congratulations to the 2023 Top Voices: David Hunt, Germán Toro Ghio, Schalk Cloete, and Dan Yurman for demonstrating their expertise. - Matt Chester, Energy Central
Don't miss out on the chance to show us some love by tossing a coin our way and signing up for our newsletter. Your support is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, fueling our passion to keep churning out awesome content just for you. We're beyond grateful to have you as part of our tribe!
Thank you for your kind contributions…
Have a wonderful day filled with good health, happiness, and love…
Artwork by Germán & CoPower needs, natural gas, and AI were the main topics of discussion at the CERAWeek debate.
From CERAweek BY CAT CLIFFORD AND AMENA H. SAIYID, SENIOR SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENTS, WASHINGTON D.C., MARCH 25, 2024.The energy transition will occur at varying rates worldwide and will be further complicated by the growing demand for electricity from power-hungry data centres and increasing electrification.
Cheap and readily available natural gas will continue to be a critical bridge fuel for the foreseeable future until lower carbon technologies are scaled up and prices come down.
These were among the top takeaways from the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, hosted by S&P Global. The event, primarily dominated by fossil-fuel producers, has evolved to embrace cleaner energy.
The debate among the thousands gathered at the conference, considered the largest of its kind in the world, was driven by the tension between energy security, exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and clean energy, whose commercialization aims to stave off the worsening impacts of climate change.
Highlights from Houston:
include the prevalence of AI at the conference, with discussions on both its opportunities and potential costs. Andrés Gluski, the CEO of The AES Corporation, a global renewable developer, suggested changing the company's name from AES to AIS due to the high demand for electricity to power energy-hungry data centres that drive artificial intelligence. Gluski also emphasised the operational efficiencies that AI can bring to AES.
"I am excited about AI because I believe it will make us more efficient, not only in operations but also in development - identifying the optimal locations for data centres and renewables," stated Gluski.
Artwork by Germán & CoThe AI boom is fueling an insatiable appetite for electricity, which is creating risks to the grid and the transition to cleaner energy sources…
The Wall Street Journal by Katherine Blunt and Jennifer Hiller, March 24, 2024, editions by Germán & Co.HOUSTON—Every March, thousands of executives take over a downtown hotel here to reach oil and gas deals and haggle over plans to tackle climate change. This year, the dominant theme of the energy industry’s flagship conference was a new one: artificial intelligence.
Tech companies roamed the hotel’s halls in search of utility executives and other power providers. More than 20 executives from Amazon and Microsoft spoke on panels. The inescapable topic—and the cause of equal parts anxiety and excitement—was AI’s insatiable appetite for electricity.
It isn’t clear just how much electricity will be required to power an exponential increase in data centers worldwide. But most everyone agrees the data centers needed to advance AI will require so much power they could strain the power grid and stymie the transition to cleaner energy sources.
Bill Vass, vice president of engineering at Amazon Web Services, said the world adds a new data center every three days. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the conference that electricity is the key input for deciding whether a data center will be profitable and that the amount of power AI will consume is staggering.
“You go, ‘Oh, my God, this is going to be incredible,’” said Gates.
Though there was no dispute at the conference, called CERAWeek by S&P Global, that AI requires massive amounts of electricity, what was less clear was where it is going to come from.
Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the size of new and proposed data centers to power AI has some utilities stumped as to how they are going to bring enough generation capacity online at a time when wind and solar farms are becoming more challenging to build. He said utilities will have to lean more heavily on natural gas, coal and nuclear plants, and perhaps support the construction of new gas plants to help meet spikes in demand.
“We’re not going to build 100 gigawatts of new renewables in a few years. You’re kind of stuck,” he said.
The complication is that companies don’t just want to add new power sources, but clean ones, too. Many tech companies and utilities have made commitments to dramatically reduce the carbon emissions they produce.
Dominion Energy, a utility company based in Richmond, Va., has seen a sharp uptick in electricity demand driven by a build-out of data centers in northern Virginia, which has long been home to a large concentration of such facilities. The company, which has set a goal to eliminate or offset its carbon emissions by 2050, expects to build at least one gas-fired power plant to support it.
“We’re going to be net-zero by 2050. We still absolutely believe that,” said CEO Robert Blue. “But the demand growth now makes that more complicated.”
After a long period of stagnant demand for electricity, utilities are dialing up forecasts by astonishing amounts. The five-year projection of U.S. electricity demand growth has doubled from a year ago, according to a report from consulting firm Grid Strategies.
The surge in AI-driven power demand comes as other factors converge to create new strain on the grid. A wave of manufacturing plants are being developed across the U.S., spurred by new tax policies under the Inflation Reduction Act, and many states are working to use more electric power for transportation, heat and heavy industry.
New data centers can be built faster than new power generation and there is already a supply crunch. Construction timelines for data centers have been extended by two to six years because of power-supply delays, according to commercial-real-estate services firm CBRE Group.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has set a goal to eliminate carbon emissions from the U.S. electricity sector by 2035. John Podesta, the president’s point person on implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, told reporters that burgeoning AI demands create new challenges in hitting that target, though federal models show it is still possible.
“We’re putting the accelerator down on developing those clean resources,” he said.
Still, utilities and tech companies are discussing the need for more fossil fuel to support demand. Toby Rice, CEO of giant U.S. natural-gas producer EQT, said tech firms building data centers are inquiring about buying gas from EQT. Rice said he got the same two questions at the conference: “How fast can you guys move? How much gas can we get?”
According to Rice, tech companies need reliable power, which renewable sources such as wind and solar can’t always provide because of the vagaries of weather. And large-scale nuclear facilities, only one of which is under construction in the U.S., have historically been expensive and time-consuming to build.
“Tech is not going to wait seven to 10 years to get this infrastructure built,” Rice said in an interview. “That leaves you with natural gas.”
Southern Company, a utility company serving customers in Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama, last year made a significant revision to its power-demand forecast in Georgia, largely driven by the build-out of data centers and other industrial activity.
What solutions should big tech explore to meet the growing power needs of data centers? Join the conversation below.
The company now expects 6,600 megawatts of demand growth through the winter of 2030, 17 times greater than the previous forecast. Southern has proposed adding three new gas turbines at a power plant southwest of Atlanta.
“With this unprecedented demand, all resources have to be in the mix,” CEO Chris Womack said in an interview.
About a third of the world’s 8,000 data centers are in the U.S., but the build-out is a worldwide phenomenon. Globally, the International Energy Agency estimates that electricity consumption from data centers, AI and cryptocurrency could double by 2026.
A data center build-out is also under way in Japan and will test that country’s power resources, said Yukio Kani, CEO of JERA, Japan’s largest power provider.
“It’s a very hungry caterpillar,” said Kani.