US Leads Record Global Surge in Gas-Fired Power Driven by AI Demands (theguardian.com) 36
An anonymous reader shares a report: The US is leading a huge global surge in new gas-fired power generation that will cause a major leap in planet-heating emissions, with this record boom driven by the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters to service AI, according to a new forecast.
This year is set to shatter the annual record for new gas power additions around the world, with projects in development expected to grow existing global gas capacity by nearly 50%, a report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found. The US is at the forefront of a global push for gas that is set to escalate over the next five years, after tripling its planned gas-fired capacity in 2025.
Much of this new capacity will be devoted to the vast electricity needs of AI, with a third of the 252 gigawatts of gas power in development set to be situated on site at datacenters. All of this new gas energy is set to come at a significant cost to the climate, amid ongoing warnings from scientists that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out to avoid disastrous global heating.
This year is set to shatter the annual record for new gas power additions around the world, with projects in development expected to grow existing global gas capacity by nearly 50%, a report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found. The US is at the forefront of a global push for gas that is set to escalate over the next five years, after tripling its planned gas-fired capacity in 2025.
Much of this new capacity will be devoted to the vast electricity needs of AI, with a third of the 252 gigawatts of gas power in development set to be situated on site at datacenters. All of this new gas energy is set to come at a significant cost to the climate, amid ongoing warnings from scientists that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out to avoid disastrous global heating.
No problem (Score:1)
Re: No problem (Score:2)
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Yep, who makes the profit is the concern, I enjoy that you think you're part of the "world leader in natural gas".
Re:No problem (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe he meant all the hot air that comes out of our government, making us a world leader in natural gas.
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Makes sense. According to leading environmentalists [stanford.edu], coal use produces less CO2-equivalent than natural gas.
Though probably the best way to react to that isn't to replace natural gas with coal, but just to ignore the environmentalists.
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AI is super important (Score:2)
Fat ladies falling through floors, fat men hang gliding in their underwear, clearly fake videos about real events trying to pass as authentic, this is what computers are for!
AI is the answer (Score:1)
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Since humans created AI, yes, AI is part of the problem. But only because of humans.
As to what to do about it, another round of covid or something similar) should help nicely with all the anti-vaxxers out there.
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We know that today it would have no answer, regardless if something were produced or not. We also know that today AI is not self-aware, so the answer to that is no.
But AI could evolve rapidly. The idea that it will, according the industry leader sociopaths, we should give no consideration but it is possible that AI could improve. We've been hearing that for decades, if only we devote all the world's computing and energy resources to create wealth for Elon and Sam no doubt we'll be saved as long as we're
It's the quickest to build (Score:2)
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Gas turbines are a well developed technology, and are quick to build. Companies keep looking toward nuclear, but building that is a far longer process. Gas may just be an intermediate step, and will be replaced with cheaper and more sustainable options in the future.
Installing solar during construction of the Data Center would arguably be faster, easier and cheaper. Install batteries (they already have backup batteries for the servers required to do the work) and you no longer need to worry about night time use.
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Installing solar during construction of the Data Center would arguably be faster, easier and cheaper. Install batteries (they already have backup batteries for the servers required to do the work) and you no longer need to worry about night time use.
The datacenters I've worked in basically had UPS to keep things running till the generators kicked in. I doubt enough UPS power to last all night every night is common, that would require vastly more batteries.
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Installing solar during construction of the Data Center would arguably be faster, easier and cheaper. Install batteries (they already have backup batteries for the servers required to do the work) and you no longer need to worry about night time use.
The datacenters I've worked in basically had UPS to keep things running till the generators kicked in. I doubt enough UPS power to last all night every night is common, that would require vastly more batteries.
While it does, the costs for those batteries would not exceed the cost of building a dedicated power station+running of that power station+lawsuits for the fumes, pollution of the local water table, noise pollution that would come from having that dedicated standard power station.
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Gas turbines probably use fewer acres of land then the equivalent solar farm would and they work 24/7. Not saying solar+wind+batteries isn't a better idea but it's not hard to see why someone might setup a gas power plant instead. Depends how the laws and their personal feels about climate change come into play.
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Gas turbines probably use fewer acres of land then the equivalent solar farm would and they work 24/7. Not saying solar+wind+batteries isn't a better idea but it's not hard to see why someone might setup a gas power plant instead. Depends how the laws and their personal feels about climate change come into play.
You're thinking wrong here. Solar doesn't need a dedicated area. Install it on the roof or over parking. Both have benefits and, in the case of installing over parking, it even gives you shade and protection from the elements. Even leaving out climate change, using solar means much less maintenance costs, no charge for the electricity, likely production of more electric than is actually used and the ability to continue going when other locations are in black out. We just need to push this with financial arg
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"Gas may just be an intermediate step, and will be replaced with cheaper and more sustainable options in the future."
Outside the US, sure. Inside the US, oligarchs will make sure there is nothing cheaper and that sustainability doesn't matter, that's what the military is for.
Pass regulations such that.... (Score:2)
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...and also ineffective. The tragedy of the commons is a difficult problem. "We should just pass regulations..." gets nowhere, particularly when the offenders have all the wealth and political power. This first step must be to get money, and criminals, out of politics. Every decision will be to the benefit of the wealthy until then, climate change will not harm the wealthy, at least not until all of us are dead.
Since when did Trump care if something was illegal anyway? That's our problem now, we don't
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https://transmission.bpa.gov/b... [bpa.gov]
The green line is available wind and solar, mostly wind. The combined nameplate rating is about 3000 MW.
Your idea would mean there is no AI. I approve of your idea.
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And by science you mean your cult leader.
Without Requiring Solar Storage Projects (Score:3)
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The issue is that the US is not installing renewables fast enough. It's not just an environmental problem, it's an economic one. The US can't be competitive when it is paying for fossil fuel generated electricity, or nuclear.
Well, there is the other big problem, that most of this AI slop is worthless and most of the money being thrown at it will be wasted. At least some more of that cash could go into renovating the grid and building more renewables and storage though.
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Without requiring solar plus storage this result was clear over 2 decades ago
To be clear Solar + Storage was not viable 2 decades ago. The viability of storage came largely after the meteoric rise of lithium cell production for EVs.
Don't make a perfect soliton the enemy of the good enough for now
No one is doing that. The problem *now* is the haphazard approach to datacentre building. Not only is there an insanely crazy sudden rise in energy demand but in the interest of getting your product going before the competition people are literally building out power "infrastructure" in the worst possible ways. At this point they are one step above having
How much is major, and what effects will it have?l (Score:1)
"that will cause a major leap in planet-heating emissions"
As usual no quantification, just the usual hysterical alarmism. Current global emissions are about 37 billion tons a year. How much will these US installations add to that? And how much additional warming will this additional amount lead to?
Can you even say by how much its going to increase US emissions? When doing this, might be an idea to start by saying what these are right now. Then we can see how important it is.
'Planet heating' is a giveaw