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Booming AI demand threatens global electricity supply

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Booming AI demand threatens global electricity supply

Electricity supply is becoming the latest chokepoint to threaten the growth of artificial intelligence, according to leading tech industry chiefs, as power-hungry data centres add to the strain on grids around the world.

Billionaire Elon Musk said this month that while the development of AI had been “chip constrained” last year, the latest bottleneck to the cutting-edge technology was “electricity supply”. Those comments followed a warning by Amazon chief Andy Jassy this year that there was “not enough energy right now” to run new generative AI services.

Amazon, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet are investing billions of dollars in computing infrastructure as they seek to build out their AI capabilities, including in data centres that typically take several years to plan and construct.

But some of the most popular places for building the facilities, such as northern Virginia, are facing capacity constraints, which in turn is driving a search for suitable sites in growing data centre markets globally.

“Demand for data centres has always been there, but it’s never been like this,” said Pankaj Sharma, executive vice-president at Schneider Electric’s data centre division.

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At present, “we probably don’t have enough capacity available” to run all the facilities that will be required globally by 2030, said Sharma, whose unit is working with chipmaker Nvidia to design centres optimised for AI workloads.

“One of the limitations of deploying [chips] in the new AI economy is going to be . . . where do we build the data centres and how do we get the power,” said Daniel Golding, chief technology officer at Appleby Strategy Group and a former data centre executive at Google. “At some point the reality of the [electricity] grid is going to get in the way of AI.”

The power supply issue has also fuelled concerns about the latest technology boom’s environmental impact.

Countries worldwide need to meet renewable energy commitments and electrify sectors such as transportation in response to accelerating climate change. To support these changes, many countries will need to reform their electricity grids, according to analysts.

The demands on the power grid are “top of mind” for Amazon, said the company’s sustainability chief, Kara Hurst, adding that she was “regularly in conversation” with US officials about the issue.

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Data centres — industrial buildings, often covering large areas of land, that house the physical components underpinning computer systems, such as cabling, chips and servers — are part of the backbone of computing.

Research group Dgtl Infra has estimated that global data centre capital expenditure will surpass $225bn in 2024. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said this year that $1tn worth of data centres would need to be built in the next several years to support generative AI, which is power intensive and involves the processing of enormous volumes of information.

Such growth would require huge amounts of electricity, even if systems become more efficient. According to the International Energy Agency, the electricity consumed by data centres globally will more than double by 2026 to more than 1,000 terawatt hours, an amount roughly equivalent to what Japan consumes annually.

“Updated regulations and technological improvements, including on efficiency, will be crucial to moderate the surge in energy consumption from data centres,” the IEA said this year.

US data centre electricity consumption is expected to grow from 4 per cent to 6 per cent of total demand by 2026, while the AI industry is forecast to expand “exponentially” and consume at least 10 times its 2023 demand by 2026, said the IEA.

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Line chart of Total data centre market operational capacity (MW) showing The global data centre market is growing and consuming more power

Even before the generative AI boom, some major markets were struggling to keep up with demand. It can take years for new renewable energy projects such as wind farms to gain regulatory approval and be connected to the grid. There is also a need in some places to build new transmission lines that carry electricity from one point to another.

In northern Virginia, the world’s largest data centre hub, power provider Dominion Energy paused new data centre connections in 2022 while it analysed how to deal with the jump in demand, including by upgrading parts of its network.

In October, the company said in filings to a Virginia regulator that it was experiencing “significant load growth due to data centre development” and that growing power demands presented a “challenge”.

In response to the demand, authorities in jurisdictions including Ireland and the Netherlands have sought to limit new data centre developments, while Singapore recently lifted a moratorium.

Developers are looking to build sites in growing areas such as the US states of Ohio and Texas, regions of Italy and eastern Europe, Malaysia and India, according to analysts.

Finding appropriate sites can be challenging, with power just one factor to consider among others such as the availability of large volumes of water to cool data centres.

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“For every 50 sites I look at, maybe two get to the point where they may be developed,” said Golding from Appleby Strategy Group. “Folks are sifting through large numbers of properties.”

The concerns have driven interest among data centre developers in options such as onsite power generation and nuclear energy, with Microsoft this year hiring a director of “nuclear development acceleration”.

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Parts of Florida receive rare snowfall as freezing temperatures linger

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Parts of Florida receive rare snowfall as freezing temperatures linger

A protective coating of ice clings to a strawberry plant in sub-freezing temperatures at a field on Friday in Plant City, Fla.

Chris O’Meara/AP


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Chris O’Meara/AP

A rare snowfall covered parts of the Sunshine State on Sunday for the second year in a row, while freezing temperatures will continue to grip parts of Florida into early this week.

A storm system brought up to 2 inches of snow to southern portions of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, including Pensacola, on Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The snowfall occurred almost a year to the day after parts of Florida received record snow in mid-January 2025 — when Pensacola received between 6 to 8 inches of snow.

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And while Sunday’s snowfall is over in Florida, a blast of arctic cold that has been felt across parts of the state since Friday is not.

Orlando and other areas will face a freeze warning Sunday night into Monday morning, with temperatures falling to at least 25 degrees and wind chills in the low 20s in some places, according to the NWS. Further south, Naples and surrounding areas will be under a cold weather advisory Sunday night into Monday morning, where 29-degree wind chills are expected.

Cold temperatures coupled with snow are abnormal for Florida but the cold weather will be “short-lived,” said Joe Wegman, a NWS meteorologist.

“We’re only expecting this level of cold for tonight. And then, even by tomorrow night, we’ll have lows in the upper 30s. So, just still cold, well below normal,” Wegman told NPR on Sunday. “By Tuesday night, lows are back up into the upper 40s.”

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Did Hunter S. Thompson Really Kill Himself?

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Did Hunter S. Thompson Really Kill Himself?

Almost from the moment Hunter was laid to rest, his widow and his son began to feud, over everything from the future of Owl Farm to Juan’s belief that his father had been mistreated by Anita in his last days.

The estrangement deepened with time, and now, Anita’s suspicions have taken the feud to a more pointed place, revealing a long, bitter fight over the legacy of the man who pioneered the personal, participatory style of reporting known as gonzo journalism.

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But they were all together the weekend Hunter died.

Juan wrote in his memoir that he was in another room and heard a thump that sounded like a book hitting the floor. Anita was at a health club in Aspen waiting for a yoga class to start. She later told the news media she was on speakerphone with her husband before he shot himself, and heard the “clicking” of the gun.

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Looking back, there were signs from that last weekend that Hunter had planned to take his own life, Juan and Jennifer said in interviews.

He insisted on watching one of his favorite movies, “The Maltese Falcon,” with his 6-year-old grandson, Will. He gave away gifts — an old clock that had belonged to his mother and a signed copy of “Fire in the Nuts,” a short book with his frequent collaborator, the artist Ralph Steadman.

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Ralph Steadman spoke about Hunter’s suicidal ideations in an interview after his death in 2005. ITN, via Getty Images By Itn

“So there is nothing new to know about Hunter’s actual death,” said Juan, 61. “So I do not know why she raised this. And I can’t imagine that the C.B.I. would find anything to act on.”

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He and Jennifer said they did not have any role in Hunter’s death. “This is really shocking,” Jennifer said. “It’s been disruptive to our family. It’s obviously been very traumatic to be revisiting this.” She said she believed Anita knew that her husband took his own life, and added, “we hope this brings her closure.”

Jennifer Winkel

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Anita had been an assistant to Hunter, and was 35 years younger than him. At the time of his death, they had been married for less than two years — it was Hunter’s second marriage — and that last weekend they fought constantly. In his memoir, Juan wrote that Hunter shot a pellet gun at a gong in the living room the night before he killed himself, just missing Anita, prompting her to threaten to call the police and have him put in a nursing home.

Hunter was also in poor health. He had difficulty moving and suffered occasional seizures, the result of decades of heavy drinking.

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“Hunter’s body was giving out,” said Debra Fuller, who worked as an assistant to Hunter and helped manage Owl Farm for almost 20 years before Hunter married Anita. “He was having more difficulty writing as well.”

Hunter had often talked of suicide. Like many of Hunter’s friends, Joe DiSalvo, who was undersheriff of Pitkin County at the time of his death, had conversations with him about how his life would end. He recalled that Hunter would demonstrate his intentions by pointing a loaded gun at his head.

“Hunter talked about suicide,” Mr. DiSalvo said. “He talked about the way he was going to kill himself.”

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U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota

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U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota

Federal law enforcement agents confront protesters during a demonstration outside the Bishop Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday.

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Up to 1,500 U.S. active-duty troops in Alaska are on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota, a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly has confirmed to NPR.

The move comes days after President Trump again threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to control ongoing protests over the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis as well as clashes between federal agents and residents. Trump later walked back that threat.

The troops on standby are from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which specializes in cold weather operations, according to the division’s website.

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Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Sunday in an emailed statement to NPR that the “Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.”

Over the weekend, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz directed the Minnesota National Guard to prepare for possible deployment to assist local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, though they have not been deployed yet.

The Guard said in a Facebook post that these “Minnesota National Guardsmen live, work, and serve in our state, and are focused on protecting life, preserving property, and ensuring Minnesotans can safely exercise their First Amendment rights.” If activated, members would wear yellow reflective vests to “help distinguish them from other agencies in similar uniforms.”

The developments follow days of rising tensions, confrontations and violence stemming from what the Department of Homeland Security has described as its largest operation in history, involving thousands of federal agents, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that it would be a “shocking step” if Trump sent the military into the city, too.

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“To those that are paying attention, you’ve got to understand how wild this is right now,” Frey said. “In Minneapolis, crime is dramatically down. We don’t need more federal agents to keep people safe. We are safe.”

Joseph Nunn, an attorney at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, said the Insurrection Act is a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency type of tool.” It is meant to be used when civilian authorities are overwhelmed by a crisis, he said, and not simply to quell protests — even violent protests.

“It would be a flagrant abuse of the Insurrection Act” if Trump invoked it now, Nunn said, “unlike anything that’s ever happened before in the history of the country.”

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