Nobody is Perfect: Tradeoffs in Sources of Electricity

Fueling the Future | Chapter 2

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Today, electricity accounts for 20% of all energy consumption

Under some electrification scenarios, that share could potentially reach 50% by 2050.*

 

An optimal energy system would not only have secure access to primary sources and key components, but it would also provide electricity cheaply when it is most needed and without harming the environment.

 

What is often ignored is that no single source of electricity is optimal across these three fronts. That is, fossil fuels and zero-carbon sources present different tradeoffs.

 

*US Department of Energy

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“One crucial aspect of AI is still often underestimated: the exponentially increasing demand for computational capacity to power the training of large language models. Data centers today consume about 2% of global electricity—more than the nation of France.”

Source: IEA

<p>“One crucial aspect of AI is still often underestimated: the exponentially increasing demand for computational capacity to power the training of large language models. Data centers today consume about 2% of global electricity—more than the nation of France.”</p>

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