Latest news with #DaveMcCormick
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Senator McCormick on Making PA an AI Hub, Nuclear Power
Senator Dave McCormick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, talks about efforts to make the state a hub for artificial intelligence and the need for more nuclear energy. President Donald Trump announced plans to invest up to $90 billion in the state for building energy infrastructure. Senator McCormick is on "Bloomberg Open Interest." (Source: Bloomberg)
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Emerald AI Has a New Approach to Meeting AI's Energy Demand
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet highlighted the surging demand for energy that will be needed to power the growth in artificial intelligence (AI) at an event this week in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Republican Senator Dave McCormick organized an AI and energy summit Tuesday at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he and other political and business leaders framed the race to develop AI as crucial to economic and national security interests. "This is a competition we must win," McCormick said in opening remarks at the event. Billionaire businessman Jonathan Gray, president and CEO of the asset management firm Blackstone Group, said in a panel discussion at the event that access to energy has emerged as the main constraint on AI. President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania Republican Senator Dave McCormick at an event Tuesday focused on AI and energy. President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania Republican Senator Dave McCormick at an event Tuesday focused on AI and energy. Courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University "Energy is the limiting factor," Gray said. "Unless we get the energy side right, we can't do this." Energy analysts predict a coming spike in electricity demand for energy-hungry data centers. A Department of Energy report in December predicted that electricity use by data centers in the U.S. could nearly triple over the coming three years, consuming as much as 12 percent of the country's total electricity output by 2028. Tech companies are racing to secure connections to the electric grid, pouring money into new energy sources and, in some cases, securing their own power supplies. Grid managers, utility companies and regulators, meanwhile, are wrestling with how to meet the growing demand while keeping the power supply affordable and reliable. Sustainability is also at risk as the AI boom drives up greenhouse gas emissions, knocking many tech companies off target for their net-zero climate goals. Against this fraught backdrop, one emerging technology seeks to make AI data centers friendlier users of the power grid. "Our goal is to make these data centers flexible in their power consumption," Varun Sivaram, CEO and founder of Emerald AI, told Newsweek. Emerald made waves this month when it announced a $24.5 million round of financing backed by big names connecting the tech, energy and climate worlds, including chip maker Nvidia, former climate envoy John Kerry and Kleiner Perkins chair John Doerr. Sivaram explained that Emerald's platform allows grid managers to remotely shift power demand for data centers without affecting AI performance. "That makes it possible to connect far more data centers to today's energy system and more efficiently use today's energy system without a massive build-out of new infrastructure," he said. Utility companies and grid managers must plan for peak energy demand—those times when electricity use will be highest across the service area—and build electricity generation capacity to match those peak moments. Often, some of the most expensive and most polluting sources in a regional power fleet are "peaker plants," the ones that turn on only at times of peak demand. But if those power companies could better anticipate and control the demand for electricity, they might avoid the need for those extra peak power supplies and reduce the risk of blackouts. Sivaram said Emerald applies that concept of demand-side management to the special properties of data centers, giving power system managers more flexibility. "They don't have to assume that a 200- or 500-megawatt data center is going to ask for its full allocation at that exact, worst moment when everybody's running their air conditioning on a hot summer day," he said. Emerald and some partner companies put the technology to a test recently in Phoenix, a place with a high concentration of data centers and a pressing need for air conditioning. "I think it was like 96 degrees that day," he said. "Everyone was using their air conditioning." When the local power provider alerted Emerald that peak energy demand was approaching, the company put its platform into action, reducing power consumption by AI chip clusters by 25 percent while the rest of the city needed the most energy. "We held that lower period of power consumption for three hours, during which time the power peaked and started coming back down," Sivaram said. Sivaram said he thinks this approach has the potential to flip the script on the AI energy issue, turning data centers into "grid allies" instead of a potential threat. "Communities are afraid their rates will go up, their power grid will crash, and these data centers will use diesel generators, which are dirty and create air pollution," he said. "Emerald AI's approach to flexibility mitigates all three of these." Newsweek will dive further into the issues around data center energy demand during an all-day event in September during Climate Week NYC. Mark your calendar for "Powering Ahead" on Thursday, September 25.
Technical.ly
5 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
Look inside: Scenes from the protest against the $90B corporate pledge to Pennsylvania AI
Officials' enthusiastic promotion of a landmark investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure didn't convince hundreds of people, who gathered on Tuesday to protest how it could hurt their communities. Sen. Dave McCormick's Energy and Innovation Summit, which took place at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), welcomed President Donald Trump, Governor Josh Shapiro and other top political and tech stakeholders to announce a $90 billion pledge from the private sector toward data centers and AI investments. The university faced backlash from the community for both Trump's presence and a lack of focus on the climate consequences of these investments. 'I don't know about you, but I want water for Pennsylvania homes, families and businesses, not Google, AI or ChatGPT,' environmental policy advocate Lauren Posey said, according to PublicSource. Leading up to the summit, CMU staff also spoke up, expressing disappointment in the school's decision to host Trump as he's denied the climate crisis, sparred with higher education institutions and targeted the legal status of international students. 'I don't think it's aligned with the values of many faculty who work on energy and AI at the university,' Emma Strubell, an assistant professor at CMU's Language Technology Institute, told WESA. Here's a look inside the protest.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump unveils $70bn AI and energy plan at summit with oil and tech bigwigs
Donald Trump joined big oil and technology bosses on Tuesday at a major artificial intelligence and energy summit in Pittsburgh, outraging environmentalists and community organizations. The event came weeks after the passage of a mega-bill that experts say could stymy AI growth with its attacks on renewable energy. 'We're here today because we believe that America's destiny is to dominate every industry and be the first in every technology, and that includes being the world's number one superpower in artificial intelligence,' said Trump. The inaugural Pennsylvania energy and innovation summit, held at Carnegie Mellon University, is an attempt to position the state as an AI leader, showcasing the technological innovation being developed in the city and the widespread availability of fossil fuel reserves to power them. At the gathering, Trump announced $70bn in AI and energy investments for the state, Axios first reported, in a move the event's host, the Republican Pennsylvania senator, Dave McCormick, says will be a boon to local economies. It was evidence that Trump is making good on his promise to serve the people 'of Pittsburgh, not Paris' as he planned withdrawal from the UN Paris climate accord, McCormick said. At the summit, 20 leading technology and energy companies also announced more than $92bn of investments for AI development in Pennsylvania. 'Today's commitments are ensuring that the future is going to be designed, built and made right here in Pennsylvania and right here in Pittsburgh, I have to say right here in the United States of America,' said Trump. The new AI 'won't be powered by wind, because it doesn't work', Trump went on to say. 'I hate to say, it just doesn't work. It's rather intermittent,' he said. 'You don't want, it causes a lot of problems.' (Though wind is indeed intermittent, it can be more reliable than gas. Wind provided over 10% of US electricity in 2023 – a share experts say must increase to achieve climate goals.) Activists say the new investments, which will boost planet-heating energy production, will have disastrous consequences for the climate and for nearby communities. 'Pennsylvanians are paying the price for decisions made behind closed doors: higher utility bills, contaminated water, poor air quality, and worsening health,' said Hilary Flint, Pennsylvania field organizing manager at the non-profit Center for Oil and Gas Organizing. Flint signed a Tuesday letter to Pennsylvania's governor, Josh Shapiro, opposing his plans to work with Trump to expand AI, along with dozens of organizations and individuals. The event also came less than two weeks after Republicans on Capitol Hill passed a Trump-backed budget bill which could dramatically increase the spending and effort needed to power AI data centers, thanks to its rollback of green energy tax credits. Renewable energy is almost always cheaper to build and easier to bring online than fossil fuels. Many tech executives invited to the event have said the availability of wind and solar are essential to the success of AI. Microsoft's Satya Nadella said last May that powering data centers with renewable energy would 'drive down the cost of AI', while the OpenAI head, Sam Altman, said months earlier that 'there's no way' to grow his industry without a 'breakthrough' in affordable clean energy technology. Tech giants Google and its parent company Alphabet, as well as Meta have also both invested in wind and solar to power data centers. But the oil industry, whose top brass are also at the Pittsburgh summit, lobbied in favor of the mega-bill's green energy incentive rollbacks. 'It includes almost all of our priorities,' Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the fossil fuel industry's largest lobbying group, told CNBC about the legislation. Sommers is on the guest list for the event. The gathering, to which no public interest consumer or environmental groups were invited, severely downplayed the climate and health consequences of this technological expansion fueled by oil and gas. Data centers used for AI are highly resource intensive, sometimes consuming as much power as entire cities. By the end of the decade, data processing, mainly for AI, is expected to consume more electricity in the US alone than manufacturing steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined, according to the International Energy Agency. 'Political leaders should be investing their time meeting with frontline communities, environmental scientists and renewable energy leaders and using their political muscle to create a just transition to renewable energy – not attending summits that double down on old, dirty energy,' said Jess Conard, Appalachia director at the environmental group Beyond Plastics, who lives in the nearby town of East Palestine, Ohio. 'Fossil fuels aren't progress, no matter how you try to rebrand them.' Critics have also raised concerns about security and privacy in the wake of AI's growth. The New York Times and other plaintiffs, including the prominent authors Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Chabon and Junot Díaz and the comedian Sarah Silverman, are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement; OpenAI has also received scrutiny for reported labor misconduct. Both OpenAI and Microsoft have defended their positions around copyright infringement allegations. 'Trump's radical AI plan is yet another example of the president siding with powerful corporations ahead of the American people,' said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump touts $92B in data center, energy investments
President Trump on Tuesday touted $92 billion in new private data center and energy investments as his administration seeks to boost the nation's power supply amid a push to rapidly develop energy-hungry artificial intelligence (AI). Trump unveiled investments from 20 major energy and technology companies, including Google, CoreWeave and Blackstone, at Sen. Dave McCormick's (R-Pa.) inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh. 'We're back in Pittsburgh to announce the largest package of investments in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,' Trump said Tuesday. 'We're here today because we believe that America's destiny is to dominate every industry and be the first in every technology, and that includes being the world's number one superpower in artificial intelligence,' he added. Cloud computing firm CoreWeave announced plans to invest $6 billion in construction of a 100 megawatt data center in Lancaster, Pa., with the ability to eventually expand to 300 megawatts. Google also unveiled a $25 billion investment in data center and AI infrastructure in states covered by a regional grid operator across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic. The tech giant plans to invest another $3 billion in modernizing two hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania as well. Investment firm Blackstone also announced that it will invest more than $25 billion in building out data center and power infrastructure in the Keystone State. The Trump administration has increasingly focused on the need for more power to protect the electrical grid from strain as it promotes rapid AI innovation. The technology requires vast amounts of energy. While the Trump administration has been largely focused on promoting fossil fuels and nuclear energy, while hampering wind and solar, investments featured at the summit included a mix of power sources. Homer City Redevelopment will purchase $15 billion worth of Pennsylvania's gas for a power plant. Energy Capital Partners will put $5 billion into a data center and will also develop community solar projects. A Department of Energy report released last week warned of the growing risk of blackouts, as both AI and the push to reshore manufacturing put pressure on the grid. The report found that the likelihood of blackouts could increase a hundredfold by 2030, even if the U.S. brings online more than 200 gigawatts of power by the end of the decade as planned. Data centers are expected to add anywhere from 35 to 108 gigawatts in load growth to the grid during that same period. The Trump administration's recently passed 'big, beautiful bill' slashes subsidies for wind and solar power, which is expected to result in less power production, though the administration has sought also to bolster other power sources including coal, gas and nuclear. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
