Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How the surging demand for energy and rise of AI is straining the power grid in the U.S.
CBS News ^ | July 19, 2024 | Ben Tracy

Posted on 07/19/2024 10:07:13 AM PDT by McGruff

The surging demand for energy in the U.S. is growing significantly for the first time in decades. Experts say it is forecast to hit record highs both this year and next year — creating more planet-warming emissions.

Part of the demand is due to an increasing number of data centers across the country, along with the rise of artificial intelligence.

The nation's roughly 2,700 data centers are mostly run by big tech firms like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Apple, and consumed more than 4% of all electricity in the U.S. in 2022. It's projected to more than double to 9% by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, a research organization and nonprofit focused on energy. It is not affiliated with any companies or type of technology.

But it's already taxing the U.S.' aging power grid, and the demands of AI are just beginning to grow. A ChatGPT query, for example, uses nearly 10 times the electricity of a typical internet search.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

1 posted on 07/19/2024 10:07:13 AM PDT by McGruff
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: McGruff

We need more electric cars.


2 posted on 07/19/2024 10:10:32 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
"The rise of AI"

Where to even begin?

3 posted on 07/19/2024 10:13:42 AM PDT by blackdog ((Z28.310) Be careful what you say. Your refrigerator may be listening & reporting you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

Maybe they shouldn’t have shut down all those coal fired generating plants. Four with 50 miles of me.


4 posted on 07/19/2024 10:14:52 AM PDT by hardspunned (Former DC GOP globalist stooge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blackdog

Who knows how much evil will result in “AI”


5 posted on 07/19/2024 10:16:27 AM PDT by Indy Pendance (“A bullet couldn't stop Trump. A virus just stopped Biden.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

What do you want to bet that one of the first things Trump will do if elected will be to release the restraints on energy production put in place by the Democrats to appease their whack-job environmental base?


6 posted on 07/19/2024 10:19:34 AM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham ("God is a spirit, and man His means of walking on the earth.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mr Ramsbotham

Ummm… yeah. That’s what he has been saying for the last four years.


7 posted on 07/19/2024 10:22:44 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: hardspunned

Amen to your comment!!!

aging power grid

It should read “prematurely aging power grid”.

Exactly because of all of those “necessary” early shutdowns.

Now “they” of the climate crisis generation have gotten “us” to this point in time, and the hypocrisy we will have to endure as they realize the solution is not what they have been pushing for.


8 posted on 07/19/2024 10:24:28 AM PDT by wita (Under oath since 1966 in defense of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Indy Pendance

AI is an amorphous acronym.


9 posted on 07/19/2024 10:29:35 AM PDT by blackdog ((Z28.310) Be careful what you say. Your refrigerator may be listening & reporting you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
Solution...."Drill Baby Drill".

Biden doubled the kick back fees on drilling on Public Lands. Talk about "greed"

10 posted on 07/19/2024 10:41:50 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

Computer circuits have become so cheap and amenable to being tied together, and the bundles so useful, that they’ve been piled together to the point that they’re competing for electric power.

The cost of data storage has also plummeted. Now the world and our lives are recorded in cyberspace.


11 posted on 07/19/2024 10:43:36 AM PDT by cymbeline (we saw men break out of a concentration camp.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

Hey CBS, does a bear s*** in the woods?


12 posted on 07/19/2024 10:54:57 AM PDT by TribalPrincess2U (Bye done!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
Electrical grid professionals have been warning about our unwillingness, inability or regulatory hurdles to upgrade the grid for decades.

This is *not* a problem caused by computers, but rather by deep greens and those who want to see the end of Western Civilization.

13 posted on 07/19/2024 10:57:34 AM PDT by marktwain (The Republic is at risk. Resistance to the Democratic Party is Resistance to Tyranny. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

why dont they just build their own power plant


14 posted on 07/19/2024 11:27:56 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
Bitcoin mining uses vastly more energy that AI, but it’s unregulated, untouchable and apparently, unmentionable.

AI is a most convenient proxy for the scourge of bitcoin mining.

15 posted on 07/19/2024 11:37:06 AM PDT by yelostar (TRUMP/VANCE 2024)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler
Good point.

I'm having trouble believing that 2,700 new data centers (from the article) are consuming more power than the many, many factories did that have been shut down over the past half century.

It sounds to me like See B S is trying to use data centers as a scapegoat for the grid problems caused by the warmageddon cultists' so-called green polices.

16 posted on 07/19/2024 11:46:03 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Tell It Right

How many data centers equals the electricity used by a petrochemical refinery?


17 posted on 07/19/2024 12:28:12 PM PDT by armourenthusiast (I capitalize everything related to South)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: armourenthusiast

I have no clue. I can tell you that I grew up in a steel town — the steel plant has been shut down for years. I doubt very seriously even Amazon’s AWS servers use that much power.


18 posted on 07/19/2024 12:33:29 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: McGruff
"The rise of AI"

...wait, what?

19 posted on 07/19/2024 12:46:41 PM PDT by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

If you keep shutting down coal-fired and nuclear power plants, of course, you are going to strain the grid!


20 posted on 07/19/2024 12:54:52 PM PDT by Tom Tetroxide
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson