You’re being lied to about electricity and AI data centers: the truth is dirtier and inefficient

We’ve all heard how AI is going to take over everyone’s job and we need to build a gazzilion new data centers to house our new digital overlords or we’ll fall behind. And these data centers will require an enormous amount of energy, which is being provided by low efficiency and dirty turbines, worsening climate change and air pollution. So why are we doing this? If you'd like to support my work, you can buy me a beverage https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Decarbonize Bypassing the Grid: How Data Centers Are Building Their Own Power Plants https://cleanview.co/content/power-st... AI bubble: Data centre cancellations are sky rocketing    • AI bubble: Data centre cancellations are s...   OpenAI CFO says annualized revenue crosses $20 billion in 2025 https://www.reuters.com/business/open... OpenAI's Big Spending https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspe... US data centers face grid bottlenecks as regional operators delay upgrades https://bebeez.eu/2025/02/03/us-data-.... US data centers face grid bottlenecks as regional operators delay upgrades https://bebeez.eu/2025/02/03/us-data-.... US electricity demand to surge to 128GW by 2029 due to data center growth - report https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en... Power Availability: The New #1 in Data Center Site Selection https://www.hanwhadatacenters.com/blo.... Grok is even worse than you think.    • Grok is even worse than you think.   Ormat Technologies Signs 20-Year PPA with Switch for ~13 MW of Carbon-Free Geothermal Capacity to Power Data Centers https://www.switch.com/ormat-technolo... Oklo and Switch Form Landmark Strategic Relationship to Deploy 12 Gigawatts of Advanced Nuclear Power, One of the Largest Corporate Clean Power Agreements Ever Signed https://www.switch.com/oklo-and-switc... Colossus: OUR GIGAFACTORY OF COMPUTE https://x.ai/colossus Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, regulator rules https://www.theguardian.com/technolog... Project Matador: Massive AI Data Center in Texas Panhandle Promises Pollution https://www.sierraclub.org/texas/blog... OpenAI follows Elon Musk’s lead — gas turbines to be deployed at its first Stargate site for additional power https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-ind... Solar & Battery Storage to Lead New U.S. Generating Capacity Additions in 2025 https://cleantechnica.com/2025/02/24/... How AI slop is causing a crisis in computer science https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158... ‘We Are the Last of the Forgotten:’ Inside the Memphis Community Battling Elon Musk’s xAI https://time.com/7308925/elon-musk-me... Crusoe announces flagship Abilene data center is live https://www.crusoe.ai/resources/newsr... AI’s Urgent Need for Power Spurs Return of Gas Turbines https://energynow.com/2025/06/ais-urg... Data center energy use is giving old, dirty power plants a new lease on life https://frontiergroup.org/articles/da... Top 10: Data Centres Using 100% Renewable Energy https://datacentremagazine.com/top10/... NEW REPORT - How big tech vague-washes AI    • NEW REPORT - How big tech vague-washes AI