Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is taking significant steps to secure its energy future, signaling preparation for a world increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence. In a notable move, Meta has entered into a 20-year agreement with Constellation Energy to help revive a nuclear power plant in Illinois.
This deal follows similar arrangements made by other tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, highlighting a growing trend among major technology companies to diversify their energy sources. The timing of these agreements is crucial given the immense energy demands of AI. Artificial intelligence, particularly the recent explosion in popularity of generative AI products, consumes vast amounts of electricity.
Much of this energy currently originates from the combustion of fossil fuels, a primary contributor to climate change. The unexpected surge in generative AI adoption has complicated the carefully laid plans of many tech companies that aimed to power their operations with more climate-friendly energy sources. While Meta is looking towards nuclear energy for its long-term needs, the company’s more immediate energy plans still lean on natural gas.
Entergy, one of the largest utility providers in the United States, is reportedly fast-tracking the construction of gas-fired power plants in Louisiana to support a large Meta data center complex in the state. The debate over energy sources for AI is gaining international attention. France, which generates approximately 75% of its electricity from nuclear power, the highest percentage globally, has positioned itself as a potential leader in the AI space, partially leveraging its abundant nuclear energy capacity.
French President Emmanuel Macron, at an AI summit in Paris earlier this year, drew a parallel to the “drill baby drill” slogan and offered his own: “Here there’s no need to drill, it’s just plug baby plug.” However, in the United States, the energy landscape for data centers is different. According to an April report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the majority of electricity consumed by U.S. data centers comes from fossil fuels, primarily natural gas and sometimes coal.
As the demand for AI-driven services increases, the IEA anticipates that the primary source of new electricity supply in the coming years will be from gas-fired plants. While cheap and reliable, these plants produce planet-warming emissions. The IEA report indicates that renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, account for about 24% of data center power in the U.S., while nuclear energy accounts for roughly 15%.
The transition to more climate-friendly power sources, including nuclear, is expected to take years before it can significantly slow the expansion of fossil fuel-based power generation. The energy needs of data centers in the U.S. have already seen a significant increase. A report released by the U.S. Department of Energy late last year estimated that the electricity required for U.S. data centers tripled over the past decade.
Projections suggest that this demand could double or even triple again by 2028. By that time, data centers could potentially consume up to 12% of the nation’s total electricity.
