the race to the bottom may already be over
this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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AFAIK in USA it is pretty common to build the power infra structure as part of the AI data-centers that need it.
This has already been pretty common for normal data-centers for years.
USA never really had good public service infra structure for it. While for instance in Denmark many companies build data-centers because Denmark both has good infrastructure, and also can supply data-centers with relatively cheap energy from renewable sources, without the company having to foot a giant bill to invest in that too.
The American model is of course inferior, but it's not like it doesn't work at all, it just makes it more expensive.
On the other hand, in USA they can bribe White House, and do almost whatever the fuck they want. That is NOT an option in China, where it can result in a literal death penalty for the CEO if tried!
For some. But Alabama power has raised rates AGAIN to build another 2 gas plants because of data centers. My power bill has increased by 50% in the last 6 years.
OK so Alabama push the bill to consumers for expanding power to data centers in that situation. Meaning the American AI industry has absolutely nothing to be envious about China for in that situation. Which was kind of my point, contrary to the claims of the article.
It just seems to me that we should require data centers to pay for new capacity on the grid using 100% renewable energy.
That would keep regular citizens for having to pay for the grid expansion, would help clean up the grid and move it forward, and all that investment in wind and solar would help bring the cost of renewables down. It would be a win for everyone.
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Everything China has us cooked in every sector
Give up, all is lost, all is lost.
Everywhere we went, people treated energy availability as a given,” Rui Ma wrote on X after returning from a recent tour of China’s AI hubs.
For American AI researchers, that’s almost unimaginable. In the U.S., surging AI demand is colliding with a fragile power grid, the kind of extreme bottleneck that Goldman Sachs warns could severely choke the industry’s growth.
Aha. I see the angle they're going for. "we need more energy to ~~compete against the baddies~~ undercut the working class"
I guess burning coal as fast as possible means energy is a "solved problem" for China?
Reading the article helps to see that they are going full renewable.
Even if AI demand in China grows so quickly renewable projects can’t keep pace, Fishman said, the country can tap idle coal plants to bridge the gap while building more sustainable sources.
China is far from full renewable.
Did I say "are full renewable"? No. I wrote something else with a different meaning.
You said it was their trajectory. It's not. Renewables are a part of their plan, sure, but that coal graph isn't turning around.
Add data from this year.
From several sources, they passed peak carbon last year, and expect coal to peak this year or next and start declining.
Also consider during the time in those charts they went from a developing country to mostly developed with much higher standard of living. They achieved a century of economic progress in a couple decades while simultaneously rolling out renewable energy faster than anyone else
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Your own graph shows the ratio of renewables to coal hugely shooting up in the last 4 years.
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