Is an AI Energy Crisis Looming

Mark Mills is the executive director of the National Centre for Energy Analytics and author of “The Cloud Revolution” How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and A Roaring 2020s. Join us as we explore how to power an AI enhanced Cloud network and its implications on the grid and climate politics.

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[simonboland]

Terrific to listen to a scholar who knows what he's talking about rather than uninformed politician or activist.

[instanoodles]

The renewables crowd on Reddit felt a shiver down their back when he said solar/wind+ batteries is more expensive.

[jonnash]

I have absolutely no concept of how many square feet are contained in an average skyscraper so an analogy like this just further obfuscates the actual size of these data centers for me.

[edsteadham]

My brain is 10 times bigger after listening to Mark which means my brain is now 10 percent as big as Marks

[stephennovak]

It seems to me there are two parties, original poor. If the rich needs the power they will get it. The poor will live off the crumbs.

[razadaza]

What a knowledgeable guest.. brilliant stuff

[philbiker]

What happens when the AI bubble bursts because there's no way for anyone to make any money with it and it works poorly? That energy won't be needed.

[happyhome]

Who is this guy ? Why have I never heard of him ? No crying over spilt milk - we only move forward. Thank you, and look forward to future inputs from this huge brain and heart.

[Brohymn]

Great listen! Fascinating to hear someone that's focusing on the 'other side' of the doom & gloom needle that so many others have us threading first.
Said others are probably correct, but it gets stale after a while. Something bringing forth projections today of what could lay on the other side of said threading is a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stagnant infosphere of talking heads.

[erikkovacs]

Working in the Datacenter industry, I can tell you the only limit to growth is the amount of power utilities are willing to provide and they have been very stingy lately.

[mikesnyder]

Great podcast. Wonderful topic. Can't wait to hear Mark on batteries

[joeedh]

Priority given to residences? In what country?

[chaptertravels]

He says there is no energy transition, this is incorrect. Collectively we have decided to take two steps back before we can continue forward. So-called "renewables' are the two steps back and we appear to need a few more before the real transition can begin.
Cheap low-pressure/high-temperature nuclear will replace fossil fuels but only when the cost of fossil fuels forces it to happen.

[dermpath]

I really enjoyed this episode! It was interesting learning about the future of computer energy consumption, zeta bites and the AI impact on medicine. I am a pathologist. It will be amazing when an AI companion is at hand while I am reading digitally scanned microscope slides for a tissue diagnosis in the future.

[anozarkian]

Looking forward to the battery conversation to follow. thank you both.

[philbd]

Billions of blue blistering barnacles! I love that captain Haddock in the background!

[jasonneugebauer]

"We are going to be forced into a more reality-based power posture" - the smartest thing I have heard said about energy since the green revolution started.

I like efficiency, and I like wind, solar, and storage when they are able to achieve a favorable lifetime, total cost of ownership / value of power produced. Many green power producers will never create more energy than the value of the energy and labor required to build and maintain their installation.

We collectively really need to figure out how to make cost-effective green energy and storage so we can save our fossil fuels for future generations. It will be painful if we burn all of our oil with an ROI above 3/1 in a 200-year period and then struggle to fuel transportation and agriculture for the next 10, 000 years. Think ahead beyond your death to the future of our children and grandchildren. This petroleum constrained future is not that far away.

[swedishbob_]

Mark P Mills is an excellent guest... regarding aviation 10 - 15 years ago there were very few Chinese holiday travellers now there are 120 million per year So computing network lanes and bytes are increasing 10-fold that rate. There are no solutions only trade-offs.

[EvanWells]

What in the heck are we dealing with if we have a world with a robust nuclear presence for grids and big data while commensurately we have a dearth of fossil fuels required for global transportation and manufacturing and farming? A series of re-localized economies that rely heavily on rail and semi-local farming that still have access to the internet?

[peterbarker]

The U.K’s last coal fired power station closes in September in the insane dash to “net zero” . That is 2000 megawatts taken out of the National Grid. This is at a time when demand for energy is on a huge increase, where is all our electricity going to come from? Norway? France? A few windmills and even fewer solar panels?