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Is Nuclear Energy the Future of Green Energy for Enormous Tech?

Andrew March

October 6, 2024

ZeroHedge

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By ZeroHedge – Oct 05, 2024, 10:00 AM CDT

Google CEO Sundar Pichai published that the corporate is all in favour of nuclear energy as a doable energy offer for its records amenities.
The tech giant’s energy consumption and greenhouse fuel emissions beget surged attributable to the proliferation of AI.
Google objectives to construct win-zero emissions by 2030 nonetheless faces challenges attributable to the increasing scale of AI investments.

Following the news of the Three Mile Island restart plans to energy Microsoft’s AI records amenities and the revival of Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, Google CEO Sundar Pichai published in an interview with Nikkei Asia in Tokyo on Thursday that the tech giant is exploring the employ of nuclear energy as a doable ‘green’ offer to energy its records amenities.

“For the first time in our history, we have this one portion of underlying technology which cuts across all the pieces we accomplish that day,” Pichai mentioned of generative AI. He mentioned, “I mediate the opportunity to attain neatly right here is one thing we are leaning into.”

Three years ago, Google released plans to construct win-zero emissions by 2030. Alternatively, the proliferation of AI records amenities has resulted in a surge in the colossal tech’s energy consumption, which, in return, its greenhouse fuel emissions in 2023 jumped Forty eight% bigger than in 2019 on a carbon-dioxide equivalent foundation.

On the aid of the scenes, Google is doubtless scrambling to trusty green energy and curb emissions as 2030 fleet approaches.

“It was once a undoubtedly ambitious intention,” Pichai mentioned of the win-zero emissions targets, “and we’re going so as to restful be working very ambitiously in direction of it. Obviously, the trajectory of AI investments has added to the scale of the process considerable.”

He persevered, “We are now searching at further investments, corresponding to photo voltaic, and evaluating technologies love little modular nuclear reactors, and loads others.”

Nikkei celebrated that Pichai wasn’t determined on the achieve Google might per chance presumably birth sourcing nuclear energy. A bulk of that energy might per chance presumably near from reviving older nuclear energy flowers. Right here’s exactly what Microsoft did when it signed a energy settlement contract with dormant Three Mile Island on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Recall that correct ultimate week, we wrote that Sam Altman-backed Nuclear SMR company Oklo launched it had finalized an settlement with the Division of Energy to strategy the next phase of the SMR on the Idaho National Lab. And days ago, the Biden administration closed a $1.52 billion loan with Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan to revive it.

Sachem Cove Companions Chief Investment Officer Michael Alkin told Bloomberg quickly after the Microsoft-Three Mile Island deal, “It be a serious wake-up call to of us that beget no longer been paying attention,” adding that demand already outstrips the availability of uranium and the restart of Three Mile Island “takes that to somewhat of a sure stage.”

Additionally, the funding markets are turning into extra receptive to nuclear deals as governments and colossal tech realize the handiest way to hit ambitious win zero objectives is no longer with photo voltaic and wind nonetheless with nuclear energy. In leisurely December 2020, we outlined to readers that this would happen in a reward titled “Aquire Uranium: Is This The Starting Of The Subsequent ESG Craze?”