AI to Skyrocket Datacenter Energy Use: Electric Buses & New Battery Tech
Energy Future: Powering Tomorrow’s Cleaner World
Peter Kelly-Detwiler
Energy Future: Powering Tomorrow's Cleaner World invites listeners on a journey through the dynamic realm of energy transformation and sustainability. Listen to this podcast on:
1.) Electric Power Research Institute report says datacenters could use as much as 9% of total U.S. electricity by 2030– driven by a surge in AI and large language programming models; Internet queries w/AI that use about 10Xthe juice of traditional Google search.
2.) Oakland California’s will be first major U.S. school district in the U.S. to go all electric with buses. Third party provider Zum will own and operate a total of 74 electric buses and operate bi-directional chargers capable of delivering 2,100 MWh of energy back to utility PG&E, through AI-enabled platform.
3.) Colorado utility Xcel Energy to work with V2G company Fermata Energy, City of Boulder, nonprofit Colorado CarShare and Boulder Housing Partners to developsmall but “transformational” V2X bidirectional electric vehicle charging pilot. Project will deploy four 20 kW Level 2 chargers and six Nissan Leafs.
4.) Chinese EV battery maker Gotion unveils all-solid-state battery w/plans to start "small-quantity production" by 2027. These batteries should take a vehicle about 600,000 miles over its lifetime. Gotion also launched next-gen Stellary batteries supporting 375 miles of driving range in 10 minutes of charging. Meanwhile Geely and BYD both planning on plug-in hybrids offering 1,200 miles of range on combined single gas tank and electric charge.
5.) CAISO board approves $6.1 billion plan to increase transmission, w/26 new projects to help add 85,000 megawatts of renewable capacity by 2035. CAISO also greenlit project to tie 550-mile SunZia line into the CA grid; SunZia carries 3,000 MW of wind power from NM to AZ, where a substation will route some to CA.