9 Comments
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Michael van der Riet's avatar

Crypto mining, the cloud, now AI, all colossal energy eaters. Within the next decade it is likely that another new technology will push demand far higher.

Stephen Heins's avatar

You are a hero of mine, Tom.

Thomas J Shepstone's avatar

You are too kind, Steve!

Al Christie's avatar

Great perspective. If the government subsidies for wind and solar are curtailed by a new administration, and the animas against fossil fuel and nuclear is lessened, the market will take care of the rest, to the extent that it's freed up. Go nuclear!

Gene Nelson, Ph.D.'s avatar

Thank you for an informative essay. The last time there was large U.S. data center growth was between the late 1990s and 2001. Data centers provide "lifeline" services in the form of a reliable internet, something that most take for granted in the U.S. See this January 28, 2024 Bloomberg article, "Blackstone Is Building a $25 Billion Empire of Power-Hungry Data Centers," by Dawn Lim.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-29/blackstone-is-building-a-25-billion-ai-data-center-empire

William Rickards's avatar

Virtue signaling meets big rock?

dave walker's avatar

Follow the money, show me the incentives, I’ll tell you the outcome in advance…..