[LINK] AI advances limited by electricity supply

[Tom Worthington]

On 7/29/25 18:43, David wrote:

> ... There's only a limited supply of electric
> power and an even more limited supply of "green" power....

There isn't a limit on supply of power. If consumers are willing to pay, 
suppliers will build more generating capacity. This is particularly the 
case with solar power, which is much easier to deploy than a coal fired 
or nuclear power.

> ... Do we want AI data centres pushing up prices for domestic and other
> established users ...

Who uses the power is determined by the market: if you pay for the power 
you get it. I can't see there is any social benefit in an aluminum 
smelter getting the power over a data center, for example.

> Yes, cold water in, hot water out.  I suppose it's the equivalent of
> climate-change for whatever lives there.

I doubt the waste heat from generating plants is significant in terms of
climate change, compared to carbon dioxide emissions. Has anyone
done a study on this?


-- 
Tom Worthington, http://www.tomw.net.au
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