Economic benefits of generative AI, which may take time to show, put ahead of impact of datacentres on energy and water
Jensen Huang, the boss of the chipmaker Nvidia, had some advice for UK ministers last week as they signed a multibillion-pound tech deal with the US: burn more gas.
“I’ve every confidence that the UK will realise that it takes energy to grow new industries,” he said. “Sustainable power like nuclear and wind and of course all of that solar is all going to contribute. But I’m also hoping that gas turbines can also contribute.”
That would be in direct conflict with the government’s determination to wean the UK off gas, as part of the transition to net zero.
The multibillion-dollar tech agreement, signed to coincide with the flummery of Donald Trump’s visit, involves welcoming a slew of vast new energy-hungry datacentres, built by US companies. (The term datacentre occurs 14 times in the official release.)
