Technology and electricity, power demand cannot be ignored - thediplomaticaffairs.com

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Geneva, Switzerland

Economics World October 18, 2024

Technology and electricity, power demand cannot be ignored

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On October 16, local time, the International Energy Agency warned that global electricity demand is growing faster than expected, making it more difficult for countries to cut emissions and control global warming. Many countries have pledged to reduce emissions to zero by mid-century to stop global warming. However, to achieve this, they will need to build low-carbon electricity sources twice as fast between now and 2035 as they do today. According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook report, the next decade will see a surge in electricity demand due to new factories, electric vehicles, air conditioning, and data centers. Global electricity demand is growing at a rate of 1,000 TWh per year, which is equivalent to increasing Japan’s electricity consumption by one year per year. On October 16, local time, Amazon announced signing three nuclear reactor development agreements, becoming the latest large technology company to seek new energy to meet the growing power demand of data centers.

Two days ago, Google signed a power purchase agreement with California-based nuclear startup Kairos Power. Last month Microsoft struck a similar purchase agreement with energy company Constellation and restarted some of the equipment at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. In addition to investing in the nuclear industry in the name of companies, some wealthy people are also involved in nuclear energy investment in their capacity.

For instance, Bill Gates has invested more than $1 billion in a startup called TerraPower, which is working with Warren Warren Buffett’s utility company PacifiCorp to develop small reactors. Altman, the founder of OpenAI, has also invested in a nuclear start-up, Oklo. Previously, tech giants invested heavily in wind and solar. Without batteries or other forms of energy storage, wind and solar cannot provide a stable supply of electricity at all times.

Nuclear energy is almost twice as reliable as coal and natural gas, and three times as reliable as wind and solar, while the reliability of renewable fuels can be improved by batteries. From the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979 to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986, nuclear energy has largely fallen out of favor in the 90s of the 20th century. At the beginning of the 21st century, this trend began to recover. However, the accident that followed the major earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011 disrupted again. Some countries have chosen to phase out nuclear power, while others have refused to build new ones. And today, that seems to be reversing.

United States White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said earlier this month that the Biden administration was working on plans to restart more decommissioned nuclear power plants to help meet the growing demand for clean electricity. On 21 March 2024, at the first Nuclear Energy Summit, co-hosted by the IAEA and the Government of Belgium, more than 30 countries adopted a joint declaration committing to nuclear energy as a key component of a global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power and industrial sectors, ensure energy security, enhance energy resilience, and promote long-term sustainable development and the clean energy transition. With the urgent need for electricity and curbing global warming, we should perhaps not be so afraid of nuclear power, but use it safely and peacefully.

By Le Tianyu

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