Anton Petrus | Moment | Getty images
Oklahoma.i Home – Amazon And Nvidia Said this week in a room of oil and gas leaders that all the options were on the table to supply artificial intelligence, including fossil fuels such as natural gas.
Technological and energy industries have gathered in Oklahoma City at the Hamm Institute for American Energy to discuss how the United States can meet the growing energy needs of AI data centers.
Large technological companies have invested mainly in renewable power in order to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, but they are now sailing in a modified political environment. President Donald Trump has abandoned American commitments to fight climate change while he seeks to increase the production of fossil fuels, especially natural gas.
There is now an increasing recognition of the technological industry that the gas will be necessary, at least in the short term, to help feed the AI.
“To have the energy we need for the grid, it will take an approach above for a while,” said Kevin Miller, vice-president of the Amazon global data centers on Thursday. “We are not surprised by the fact that we will have to add a thermal generation to meet short -term needs.”
Amazon remains focused on reducing its carbon emissions, said Miller. This is the largest renewable energy buyer and invests in advanced nuclear and carbon capture technology to reduce the environmental impact of its energy consumption, said the executive.
But these advanced technologies will not be online before the 2030s and Amazon needs stable and secure power now, said Miller.
“We are very explicit that responding to customer capacity requests is above all in our list of priorities, and therefore having access to power is above all what we are focusing on,” said Miller. “And we aim to be Net-Zero carbon as a business by 2040 and we are very focused on this.”
Nvidia is also focused on environmental impact, but wants “all options on the table” while AI faces an energy crunch, said Josh Parker, principal director of the durability of flea manufacturer's business.
“In the end, we need power. We just need power,” said Parker at the panel. “We have customers who really prioritize clean energy and some customers who do not care so much,” said the executive.
The anthropogenic co-founder Jack Clark called the developers of data centers to be realistic about the energy sources currently available. Anthropic estimates that 50 new power gigawatts are required by 2027, which is equivalent to around 50 nuclear reactors. AI's demand can help stimulate the development of “new and new sources” in the longer term, he said.
The idea of using coal, however, was welcomed with discomfort. Trump recently signed an order which aims to stimulate the production of coal, citing the request of the AI. The leaders of Amazon and Nvidia did not respond directly when they were asked during the panel if they thought that the coal had a role -playing game in the food of the AI.
“You have a wider set of options than simple coal,” said Clark. “We would certainly consider it, but I don't think I would say that it is at the top of our list.”
