Renewables are the most sensible answer to AI's power problem

The AI data centre boom is becoming a significant factor in water shortages and power outages, with the technology adding to the energy-grid stress caused by things like electric vehicles and air conditioning. With electricity demand soaring, solar and wind power are the best solutions for building out more capacity quickly. But AI’s thirst needs different solutions.

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Tech Gets Real is a show about staying in control in a time of rapid technological change. I'm veteran tech journalist David Meyer, and I've been covering topics like online privacy and freedom for two decades.

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CHAPTERS:

0:00 AI energy and water problems
1:37 Not all data centres are AI
2:40 AI's real needs
4:00 Locating data centres
4:52 General energy needs
5:37 Choose wisely
6:09 Nuclear's revival hopes
6:57 Renewables are faster to build

REFERENCES:

NYT on data centre water outages and power cuts https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/te...

Guardian on Arizona data centre protests https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...

James Ball on AI’s current environmental impact https://www.transformernews.ai/p/ai-e...

Visual Capitalist chart on data centre boom https://www.visualcapitalist.com/char...

My Fortune article on the nuclear industry’s AI hopes https://fortune.com/2024/11/21/tech-n...