Throughout the country, Americans use the internet every hour of every day. According to a 2024 Pew Research Poll96% of adults reported at least occasionally to use the internet on a mobile device. That number has gradually increased since May 2000, when only 48% occasionally reported. With more people online, energy suppliers have started preparing for a higher demand for electricity.
“The internet use was overestimated, it turned out, at least in early going. And then it caught up and we saw consumer use later,” said Constellation President and CEO Joseph Dominguez.
But when it comes to new artificial intelligence, Dominguez says that widespread use has happened almost immediately and has expanded faster than the internet tree. White House AI and Crypto Tsar David Sacks agrees.
“The adoption is faster than any earlier technology. It is faster than the internet, it is faster than the iPhone. It is therefore hired very quickly,” Sacks said. “Yet about half of the audience have not tried it yet.”
“Openai’s Chatgpt, when they launched, was the fastest growing acceptance of every consumer technology product ever in November 2022, but that is a decrease in the Emmer about what they now have,” said senior consultant Gregory Allen with the Wadhwani Ai Center in the center for strategic and international studies.
To meet the increasing demand and continue to promote AI technology, data centers offer a 24-hour connection.
Artificial intelligence feeds large technical partnerships with nuclear energy producers
“Performing all these computational sources that modern AI needs requires a lot of electricity,” said Allen.
AI models are often trained to remain relevant. Software requires regular updates and new data centers need large cooling systems to keep everything active. All says that the largest AI algorithms between 1 and 5 require gigawatt electricity to work.
“One Gigawatt is about one Hoover Dam’s of electricity. So imagine that five Hoover -dams are used to just provide one data center full of one company with electricity,” Allen said.
The growing complexity and need for updated infrastructure has put pressure on available resources.
“Data centers have become very large. So if you think about it, we need land that needs to be zoned. We need permits so that we can build these facilities, and we have to bring more electricity,” said Microsoft President and Vice chairman Brad Smith.
Data centers are often clustered in certain areas. According to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, the 250 facilities of the area treat around 70% of global internet traffic. In areas with a high concentration, technology companies can experience delays when connecting with the grid. Abroad, some countries and places have set restrictions on how many data centers can be built. Stateside, Dominguez, says that President Donald Trump has taken some actions to accelerate some of the permit processes.
“The executive orders now cut a lot of bureaucracy, and we are in fact not obliged to do things that we had to do in the past,” Dominguez said.
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Facebook-parent-meta platforms invest $ 800 million in a nearly 1 million square foot of hyperscale Data Center in Kansas City, Missouri. (Meta/Kansas City Area Development Council)
Before a nuclear site is built, producers are obliged to obtain an early location permit that checks geology, site conditions and whether a new facility can be built.
“It makes sense if you have never built a nuclear reactor at that location. But in our case we have existing reactors that have been working in these communities for decades,” Dominguez said. “Currently, the NRC regulations require that we go through a difficult exercise that costs around $ 35 million per doll to verify what we already know and that is that nuclear could go there. As a result of the President’s executive orders, that is no longer necessary.”
As soon as a nuclear site is active, future data centers can also connect directly to the site. Electricity would be constant.
“It runs like a freight train day or night, winter or summer, regardless of the weather,” said Dominguez.
Nuclear factories work at full capacity, more than any other energy source, making it a reliable choice for technology companies.
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“Nuclear energy is also a good source of electricity for AI and many other things,” said Smith. “In the United States we went for many decades without adding new sources of nuclear energy.”
American reactors deliver almost 20% of the power of the country. The 93 nuclear generators create more electricity every year than the more than 8,000 wind, solar and geothermal power plants combined. Dominguez said that 24/7 energy supply might never be necessary and that a mix of sources is important. Constellation also develops solar energy together with nuclear.
“We have to develop 20 times as much solar sun to get the same impact as a megawatt of nuclear energy,” Dominguez said.
