Is AI Becoming an Energy Story?

[Jarett Emert]

Dear friends and colleagues,

Over the last year, I’ve found myself thinking about AI and climate a little differently.

For a long time, I viewed them as separate conversations. AI was mostly about software, chips, and computing power. Climate was about energy, infrastructure, and emissions.

The more I look at it, the more I wonder if AI is increasingly becoming an energy story. Most of the attention goes to the latest models, but underneath that there is a growing need for electricity, transmission, cooling, and other physical infrastructure. In some places, it feels like access to power is becoming one of the biggest constraints.

What I find interesting is that many of the technologies now attracting attention from AI companies, geothermal, advanced nuclear, storage, and grid technologies, were already being developed to address climate and energy challenges. AI didn’t create those needs, but it may be accelerating them.

I’m curious what others think. Does AI become a major driver of climate infrastructure investment over the next decade, or are we getting ahead of ourselves? Where do you see the biggest opportunities and bottlenecks?

Best,

Jarett

[Author]

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