This week in buildings, land and industry news, NetZero Insider’s K Kaufmann wrote about data center demand and artificial intelligence. While the new computing power required for AI is driving the data expansion, the technology can also help deal with the energy transition by making the distribution system run more efficiently, speakers said at Tch for Climate Action’s Clean Energy Transition Conference.
Scientific American published a story on how much the searches by Google’s AI, which it calls Gemini, impact the environment. One estimate is that the AI summaries Google produces for some customers consume up to 30 times the energy of a normal search. One researcher also estimated that large language model BLOOM produces up to 19 kilograms of CO2 per day per use, while generating two images with AI can use the same energy as the average cellphone takes to charge.
POLITICO’s E&E News put out an article looking into the status of the Inflation Reduction Act’s $9 billion for home energy rebates. The law called for the Department of Energy to dole out funding to states once they set up programs to distribute it to homeowners, especially low- and moderate-income Americans. But most of the money is unlikely to get out before the November election, so a second Trump administration could review the rules for distributing it, leading to an even longer wait for consumers to access the funds.
Some of the IRA’s money for efficiency is starting to move though, with WUSF (Tampa Bay’s NPR station) reporting that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) plans on accepting $350 million for home energy efficiency retrofits. The story notes that DeSantis has rejected billions in federal funds in recent years and last year vetoed legislation that would have assigned state funds to roll out the federal money. DeSantis accepted the money as part of the state’s $116.5 billion budget for 2025-2026.
Canary Media has a story on California legislation that would launch 30 electrification pilots in neighborhoods around the state where it would be more costly to upgrade the natural gas system than to electrify. The bill, SB 1221, is working its way through the legislature, and similar concepts are being explored in other states.
Colorado Public Radio News has a story on how Xcel Energy’s new clean heat plan could start to shift that state away from natural gas. The Colorado PUC approved the $440 million plan to cut emissions from its natural gas system, mostly by shifting customers away from the fuel altogether. The commission largely rejected Xcel proposals to blend hydrogen or cleaner sources of gas into its system.
Read all that and more in this week’s Intelligence Report:
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