This As You Sow report examines how the AI-driven data center boom is fueling expansion of fossil gas plants and extending coal retirements, creating serious financial, regulatory, and climate risks for investors, utilities, and technology companies. It exposes the disconnect between corporate clean energy claims and actual grid impacts, noting that many tech companies rely on low-quality renewable energy certificates that fail to drive real decarbonization. The report offers a practical framework for aligning data center growth with grid decarbonization through demand transparency, load flexibility, energy efficiency, strategic site selection, and high-quality clean energy procurement.
Compute and Consequence: AI Energy Demand in a Rapidly Evolving Grid Landscape
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Kelly Poole, Abigail Paris, Jeremy Fisher
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As You Sow
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