The renewable revolution’s biggest superheroes are at risk of turning into its biggest villains. For years, Silicon Valley’s biggest players have been among the most vocal and most deep pocketed proponents of clean energy investment. But now, thanks to the runaway energy demand driven by artificial intelligence, Big Tech’s emissions are sharply on the rise and its lofty decarbonization goals are becoming ever more far-fetched. The bigwigs behind tech companies including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI are now pushing harder than ever for greater deployment of renewable energy infrastructure and increased research and development of novel clean and alternative energies, but keeping up with the voracious energy appetite of AI is a tall order. Google’s 2024 Environmental Report revealed that the company’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged nearly 50% since 2019, driven by the massive expansion of AI use in the company’s operations. As a result, the company now publicly recognizes that its own ambitious goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030 is becoming increasingly challenging – if not impossible – to achieve.

Full opinion : Geothermal Energy: Big Tech’s Answer to AI’s Growing Energy Consumption.