Technology

The use of energy by artificial intelligence technology is rapidly increasing. Massive data centers performing the intense computation needed for training large models are consuming huge amounts of energy. Last year, AI consumed over 4% of U.S. electricity, putting a real strain on electric grids. Projections are that AI energy demand will more than double by 2040.

Washing clothes may seem harmless, but each load can release hundreds of thousands of tiny plastic fibers from synthetic fabrics into the water. Some of these microplastics are captured in sewage sludge that is often used as fertilizer, allowing the particles to spread onto agricultural fields. Others pass through wastewater systems and eventually into the ocean, where they accumulate in marine life. Laundry is an overlooked but major source of plastic pollution.

All around the world, Chinese companies are building factories, mines, and refineries that make EVs, batteries, solar panels, and other green energy technologies. Since 2022, Chinese companies have committed to spending $200 billion in clean energy manufacturing investments overseas. These facilities are located in every continent other than Antarctica.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the primary way to mitigate the effects of climate change. Converting to renewable energy sources to generate electricity and the electrification of vehicles are key requirements for reducing emissions. But industrial plants produce about 20% of global emissions. Major contributors include the production of petrochemicals, cement, and fertilizers. The emissions come from both the heat required for the industrial processes and from the processes themselves.

New York State has some of the nation’s most aggressive policies addressing climate change, including a law that is aimed at all but eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Gas-powered cars, oil-burning heaters and furnaces, and fossil-fueled electric plants are supposed to be on the way out. But the state has recently started putting the brakes on progress towards that green future.

Ammonia is produced on a massive scale around the world. Over 250 million tons of it were manufactured in 2023. Eighty percent of it is used as fertilizer, but ammonia is also used for the production of plastics, fibers, explosives, nitric acid, and for the manufacture of dyes and pharmaceuticals.

The air contains water. We call it humidity. Even in the desert, there is water in the air. Scientists have been working on ways to squeeze water out of the air to produce clean drinking water. They have developed a number of sorbent materials that harvest water from the air. The process is called atmospheric water harvesting, or AWH.

Concrete is the most abundant manufactured material in the world. It is primarily composed of water, cement, and aggregate (sand and gravel.) Cement manufacturing is responsible for about 8% of the world’s total CO2 emissions, primarily a result of the chemical reaction of heating limestone and the combustion of fossil fuels used to provide the heat.

The Trump administration broadly opposes renewable energy. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill gutted green energy subsidies and the administration has been systematically cutting back on clean energy programs including essentially bringing American offshore wind energy development to a halt. Their overall policy position is that climate change is not a serious problem and that fossil fuels are the way to go.

The Snowy 2.0 Pumped Storage Power Station – simply known as Snowy 2.0 – is a giant power generation project in Australia that is designed to supply 2.2 gigawatts of capacity and 350,000 megawatt-hours of large-scale energy storage to the national electricity market. The massive storage capacity will enable the introduction of more wind and solar generation by acting like a giant battery.