Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) fired off a letter on Tuesday to Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and several major data center developers to investigate the impact they’re having on Americans’ utility bills. The move comes as rising electricity rates became an increasingly hot-button issue in the US, which […]
AI created as much carbon pollution this year as New York City and guzzled up as much H20 as people consume globally in water bottles, according to new estimates. The study paints what’s likely a pretty conservative picture of AI’s environmental impact since it’s based on the relatively limited amount of data that’s currently available […]
Ed Murray has been in the solar business long enough to remember the bloodbath of 1985. That’s when President Ronald Reagan ended Jimmy Carter-era solar tax credits meant to decrease US reliance on fossil fuels following the 1970s oil crisis. “It was a sad time,” says Murray, who is president of the trade group California […]
A startup developing technologies to harness solar power in space is throwing its hat in with big tech companies attempting to build out data centers that orbit Earth. The US-based company, Aetherflux, announced on Tuesday that it plans to launch its first data center satellite in early 2027 – the first piece of a larger […]
More than 230 groups including Food & Water Watch, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Greenpeace are demanding a pause on the construction of any new data centers in the US until stronger regulations are in place to prevent soaring electricity rates, water use, and pollution. “The rapid, largely unregulated rise of data centers to fuel […]
President Donald Trump announced a new plan that lets carmakers pollute more by making less fuel efficient vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said today that it’ll roll back fuel economy rules finalized last year by the Biden administration for model year 2022-2031 vehicles. The Trump administration has eliminated incentives for EV purchases, […]
New planned data centers promise to consume even more energy than expected. Meanwhile, a grid monitor is blaming such growth for high electricity prices.
“It’s a wrap … Don’t forget to buy an ‘i survived Belém’ shirt,” reads the opening line of an email I got Saturday, the final day of highly anticipated United Nations climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil. The email was sent from Shravya Jain-Conti, the US climate diplomacy lead at the Global Strategic Communications Council (GSCC), […]
Arizona’s economy was once dominated by the “five C’s”: cotton, cattle, citrus, copper, and climate. But a new C has emerged that could grow to overshadow the rest: chips. New semiconductor manufacturing facilities are springing up across the greater Phoenix area, stretching across blocks of new roads with names like “Processor Parkway” and “Transistor Terrace.” […]
The most high-stakes United Nations climate change conference in years is taking place this November in Belém, Brazil. It’s the 10th anniversary of the landmark Paris agreement, which committed nearly every country on Earth to working together to limit global warming. They’re off track, making this an important moment to show the world whether world […]