Meta’s Hyperion data centre hit $50bn, and split a Louisiana town in two
Meta’s Hyperion data centre hit $50bn, and split a Louisiana town in two

Meta’s Hyperion data centre in rural Louisiana has ballooned from $10bn to more than $50bn in under two years. In a parish of 20,000 people, it has made some locals a fortune and priced others out of their homes. Meta just made its biggest AI bet bigge…

Decoupling from China would cost the West $23.6tn
Decoupling from China would cost the West $23.6tn

Cutting the West’s reliance on China would carry a staggering price. A new study puts the cost of decoupling from China at $23.6tn over 25 years, and warns the bill would land hardest on the industries building Europe’s tech future. The West has spent …

France thinks cheap power is its AI edge. Now it must decide who plugs in
France thinks cheap power is its AI edge. Now it must decide who plugs in

France believes its cheap, low-carbon electricity is Europe’s overlooked advantage in AI. A debate has now opened over that power. Should it go to homegrown AI firms, or to the American giants building data centres on French soil? When the head of Euro…

Local Authorities In England Praised For Clean Air Progress In New Study

The report by the UK100 group of councils claims local work around tacking air pollution between 2019 and 2025 prevented an estimated 13,722 deaths.

Renewed Iran Fighting Will Sustain Shift To Clean Energy

This week’s Current Climate newsletter also looks at California’s new EV rebates and Peak Energy’s sodium-ion battery plans

AI has triggered the biggest gas-plant building boom in history, and a quiet fight to stop it
AI has triggered the biggest gas-plant building boom in history, and a quiet fight to stop it

The AI build-out has done something the fossil-fuel industry could not do for itself. It has set off the largest-ever construction boom in natural gas-fired power plants, the Associated Press reports. Aging coal plants are being kept alive past their r…

AI bosses say demand is ‘almost unlimited’. The market is no longer taking their word for it.
AI bosses say demand is ‘almost unlimited’. The market is no longer taking their word for it.

Executives building the AI boom are unwavering. Demand is effectively bottomless, they say, even as the stocks that ride on it wobble, CNBC reports. Pat Gelsinger, the former Intel chief now at Playground Global, put it plainly. He thinks of AI demand …

Grid War: How Geopolitics And Anxiety Drive Home Solar

Cyberattacks on power grids and shifting federal policy are pushing Americans toward rooftop solar and batteries — not for climate ideals, but personal security.

Annual Climate Bike Ride Underway From Brazil Via Europe To Asia Minor

Annual UN climate conference cycle ride arrives in Berlin en route to Turkey

A US senator has a plan to make AI answer for its harms. It starts with your local data centre
A US senator has a plan to make AI answer for its harms. It starts with your local data centre

The fight over AI’s harms has played out state by state. One US senator wants to make it federal, all at once. Ed Markey has a long list of worries about artificial intelligence. Thirsty data centres. Workplace surveillance. Biased algorithms. Chatbots…