This Week in Cleantech is a weekly podcast covering the most impactful stories in clean energy and climate in 15 minutes or so, featuring Paul Gerke of Factor This and Tigercomm’s Mike Casey.
This week’s episode features special guest Maeve Allsup from Latitude Media, who wrote about how a new startup allowed an Oracle data center using Nvidia GPUs to cut its power consumption by 25% during hours of peak grid demand without sacrificing performance.
This week’s “Cleantecher of the Week” is JoeBen Bevirt, founder of Joby Aviation, a company developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service. This week, its electric air taxi completed a series of piloted, vertical-takeoff-and-landing wingborne flights in Dubai. Congratulations, JoeBen!
China’s new rare earth export restrictions are slowing global supply chains. Ford has paused factory operations over the last three weeks due to a shortage of high-powered magnets containing rare earth elements. Ford CEO Jim Farley called for the buildout of a U.S. supply chain as the current magnet supply is entirely dependent on China.
China installed more wind and solar last year than the rest of the world combined and is building EV and battery factories across the globe. Meanwhile, Trump is pressuring Japan and South Korea to invest trillions in a project to ship natural gas to Asia, while GM has just canceled electric motor manufacturing plans in favor of V-8 gasoline engines. As the U.S. continues to rely on fossil fuels, China is investing in cheap renewables and batteries to achieve energy independence and foster relationships with other countries worldwide.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a new report card giving the U.S. a “C” grade. The report states that every category of U.S. infrastructure is at increasing risk from climate change. Climate risk analytics firm First Street told CNBC its models find 19% of power infrastructure, 17% of telecommunications infrastructure, and 12% of airports are at major risk from flood, wind, or wildfire. The ASCE also estimates we need $3.7 trillion over the next 10 years to get U.S. infrastructure in good condition.
Trump’s newly passed spending bill will phase out key tax credits for wind, solar, electric vehicles, and battery storage. The bill also expands fossil fuel leasing and adds new subsidies for metallurgic coal. The move comes as U.S. power demand is set to quickly rise from new data centers and gas turbine supply is limited. 78% of impacted renewables projects are in red districts. Analysts say the law could undercut investment in new battery factories across the Southeast and drive up electricity costs as consumers compete with new data centers for power.
Research and development coalition DCFlex released the results of a pilot testing software from Emerald AI, a new startup out of stealth, that allowed an Oracle data center using Nvidia GPUs to cut its power consumption by 25% during hours of peak grid demand without sacrificing performance. Emerald AI’s platform slows down less critical tasks when demand is high and is part of a broader effort to make data centers more flexible and, therefore, easier to integrate into the grid.
