"Given that most of the country’s power is still generated from fossil fuels, this raises some obvious climate concerns. Major tech companies have started investing in next-generation energy technologies like nuclear fusion, carbon capture, and small modular nuclear reactors. But those require lead time and in some cases luck, and the same companies want new data centers now. Data center growth is already helping to extend the life of coal-fired power plants and fueling a boomlet for the gas power providers furnishing Silicon Valley titans with new turbines. There is nothing inevitable, though, about the tremendous energy demand that AI boosters say they’ll need.

“Nobody has any idea what AI electricity usage in data centers is going to be in three to four years,” says Jonathan Koomey, a researcher and consultant who studies the energy impact of internet and information technology. Electricity demand is indeed growing for the first time in over a decade, he says. Not all of that is from data centers, and larger spikes in demand are generally concentrated in places with new factories and data centers, like Virginia and Georgia. The modest overall load growth happening now, moreover, doesn’t indicate that there’s some looming crisis in which the U.S. will run out of electricity as data centers proliferate.

The bigger risk may well be that these fantastical demand projections are used to bring new fossil fueled power plants online and keep existing ones running—regardless of whether they’re actually needed. Once built, new coal or gas plants are likely to operate for decades. “When people think it’s a crisis they make big mistakes,” Koomey says. “It’s absolutely not a crisis.”"

https://newrepublic.com/article/189460/ai-data-centers-coal-fossil-fuels-energy

#USA #AI #DataCenters #FossilFuels #Energy #Electricity

The UK's pivot from fossil fuels to renewables over the last ten years has now reached the point where this year we will be (regularly) using renewables more than fossil fuels for electricity generation.... it may still leave too much reliance on fossil fuels, but the trend, if slower than one might like, remains encouraging (as does the lack of an expansion of nuclear).

#electricity #renewableEnergy #climate

Metr helps you simplify your prepaid electricity budget. All you need to do is create an entry each time you purchase electricity and Metr will automatically calculate your cost per unit, daily expenses and daily consumption. These statistics can help you be more aware of your electricity usage, providing a metric for you to improve and save!

Under useful stats, it also has Time Until Next Refill. This can help you budget and plan, knowing when you will need to purchase electricity again. It will also allow you to know how long your balance is going to last.

This is by a brand-new developer as their first attempt at writing an Android app, so it may have some rough edges, but it could be really useful to many in South Africa.

It is free with adverts so although the dev does not collect or share your data, the Google ad system may well do so. If the app does well enough, maybe the dev will consider doing a paid ad-free version too.

See https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.metr.metr
#Blog, #electricity, #southafrica, #technology

The consequences of European sanctions against Russia or when American vassals decided to kill themselves.



#eu #europe #european #sanctions #vassalage is #poverty #economy expensive #industrial #electricity #energy #blameRussia

Meanwile



#electricity