The Energy Mess AI Is Creating — and How to Fix It | Ari Matusiak | TED

0:08 When you open your power bills these days,

0:11 do you notice they're a lot higher than they used to be?

0:14 Behind that climbing bill of yours is a straining

0:16 energy grid where you live, and very likely,

0:19 one major source of that strain are AI data centers,

0:23 helping tech companies profit while you pay more.

0:28 If you think about that for a second, it's kind of a crazy deal.

0:32 And if it makes you angry,

0:34 or if the whole deal around AI makes you uncertain or worried,

0:39 you certainly are not alone.

0:41 I'm Ari Matusiak, and I'm part of a talented team

0:44 that spends its time working to rewire America's energy system.

0:48 And we believe we have a fix.

0:50 One that cuts a new and better deal for you, your family and your community.

0:56 A deal that's built on our shared power.

0:59 Nine out of 10 workers in America say that their incomes have barely budged,

1:03 and they can't keep up with the cost of living.

1:05 Energy costs are up 40 percent over the last five years.

1:10 One in three households in America say that they

1:13 are struggling to pay that power bill every month.

1:17 In parts of West Virginia, that power bill rivals the mortgage.

1:21 Think about that.

1:23 What it costs some American families to heat and cool their homes

1:27 is the same as what it costs them to own their home.

1:31 The American energy system has traditionally had two sides.

1:33 On the one side, supply.

1:35 Giant steel-in-the-ground power plants built by people in hard hats,

1:39 celebrated by people in suits,

1:41 at ribbon cutting-ceremonies that you're probably not invited to.

1:44 On the other side, demand.

1:46 All of us, paying for the energy that we need and contributing

1:50 our share to the infrastructure costs over there to produce it.

1:55 For 30 years, that was basically the deal.

2:00 The price of energy went up some.

2:02 The amount of energy we all use stayed basically the same.

2:05 And really, none of us ever thought about it.

2:08 We just sat at our kitchen tables and paid that bill.

2:11 But then, five years ago, it broke.

2:15 Energy demand surged.

2:17 And one main reason?

2:19 AI.

2:21 Right now, there are over 3,400 AI data

2:25 centers underway or planned in the United States,

2:29 needing 270 gigawatts of power.

2:33 What's a gigawatt?

2:35 Well it’s a unit of energy— but like a lot of energy.

2:38 To put it in perspective, those 270 gigawatts are enough to power two

2:42 out of three homes in America all day, every day, as much Netflix as you want.

2:49 And the projected demand for AI power just keeps going up.

2:52 It's almost tripled in the last year alone.

2:55 And so now we have this situation where we have power for all of us

3:00 and power for all of that on a system that wasn't designed to support it.

3:05 It's a mess.

3:07 And if we keep going the same way,

3:10 this mess will mean that you fund one of the largest buildouts of infrastructure

3:14 in American history— comparable to the interstate

3:18 highway system— on your bill every month.

3:22 Except it will be going to all of that, not to you.

3:27 Meanwhile, your furnace is getting older,

3:30 your water heater is about to give out, you are one hard winter or hot summer

3:34 away from a repair bill you didn't budget for.

3:38 Not surprisingly, people do not like this deal.

3:43 And all across the country, communities are fighting back.

3:47 Bans, protests, tens of billions of dollars

3:50 of AI data-center projects canceled or delayed.

3:54 And still, these companies are pushing for more power— because they need it.

4:01 And that is our big shared opportunity.

4:06 The thing to remember about these AI tech

4:08 companies is that they are in a global race, that they intend to win,

4:12 and they will pay almost whatever it costs

4:15 for the power that they need to win that race.

4:18 They don't really care where the power comes

4:20 from, they just need it fast and at scale.

4:22 And so they're already investing in those power plant projects,

4:25 but they take five to seven years to build.

4:27 So to get power faster, some of these companies are literally buying old 747 jet

4:33 engines and converting them into turbines to generate electricity 24/7.

4:40 Jet engines.

4:41 Gets me every time.

4:42 Imagine a whole batch of those things blasting away in your community.

4:46 There's got to be a better way than that.

4:49 Well imagine that these tech companies could get some

4:51 of the power that they need from simple home upgrades:

4:55 solar on your rooftop, heat pumps, swapping out air conditioners,

4:59 furnaces, water heaters,

5:00 batteries in your garage and in your appliances and software that connects

5:05 you and your neighbor's homes together to provide power back to the grid.

5:11 Nationally, households could provide 100 gigawatts of the 270

5:15 gigawatts that are needed for these data centers.

5:18 More than a third.

5:21 How?

5:22 Because through those upgrades we are making and storing

5:25 our own power and using less of it overall,

5:28 creating space on the grid for more demand

5:31 while reducing your energy bill, not raising it.

5:35 And who has the money for those homegrown energy upgrades?

5:39 The tech companies that need their power right now.

5:43 In response to the backlash,

5:44 tech companies and elected officials across the political spectrum have said

5:49 that these AI data center projects will bring their own power.

5:53 They'll pay for what they need, not you.

5:56 How does that work?

5:57 Well take it to your hometown.

5:59 Imagine a tech company coming in and wanting

6:02 to build a 200-megawatt data center.

6:04 For a project of that size, they might spend a half a billion,

6:07 a billion dollars or more for the power that they need.

6:11 But to get the project approved,

6:13 they will likely also negotiate a community benefit

6:16 agreement— another $10 million or $50 million on top.

6:20 Investing in programs in the community

6:22 that you and your family can benefit from.

6:26 Sounds pretty good.

6:27 Does it solve the problem?

6:29 No, because this is about new power,

6:32 not fixing the mess that you're already paying for.

6:35 So your bill stays exactly the same.

6:40 And that's why we propose cutting a new deal.

6:43 Imagine this.

6:45 You get a notice from your utility: 70 percent off of new appliances.

6:50 Remember that old water heater?

6:51 Your contractor comes and replaces it with a new,

6:54 efficient heat pump for a couple hundred bucks instead of a couple thousand.

6:59 How does that work?

7:00 Well the tech company takes the half a billion dollars,

7:03 the billion dollars or more that they otherwise would have

7:06 invested and puts it into you and your neighbor's homes instead.

7:10 Rooftop solar, batteries, heat pumps— across 50,000 households in your town— we

7:17 estimate would generate that same 200 megawatts of power.

7:22 And this could be the new deal.

7:25 And guess what?

7:26 It turns out it gives the tech companies

7:28 what they need and want too: speed to power.

7:31 Because those upgrades, they can start next week,

7:34 and they'll be done in a year or two years, not five to seven.

7:38 The company gets the same credit that they would

7:40 from a utility or regulator for making that investment,

7:43 as they would if they put it into a new power plant.

7:47 And because the whole investment is a community benefit,

7:51 it's more likely to get accepted and built in the first place.

7:55 It's a better deal for them.

7:58 For you and your neighbors?

8:00 You get free or heavily discounted equipment that you own.

8:03 We found that those upgrades can save you

8:05 up to $2,000 per year on your energy bills.

8:08 Think of it like a community fund.

8:11 The tech company puts the money in, you

8:14 and your neighbors take the discount out based on your need.

8:18 Not first-come, first-served, not who negotiates the hardest,

8:23 [it’s for] everybody, according to their needs.

8:26 Families that need the most support?

8:28 They get the biggest discount.

8:29 Nobody’s paying full price, and nobody’s doing this alone.

8:33 We're all in this together, participating.

8:37 And because we're all in this together, participating,

8:41 and that fund is sized to a number of households,

8:44 manufacturers and contractors are willing to give discounts, too,

8:48 because they're getting a lot of new business out of the deal.

8:52 It's like Costco, but for energy.

8:55 Homegrown energy.

8:57 Is that even going to work?

8:59 I mean, how many people get appliances?

9:00 Well, it turns out, a lot of people get appliances.

9:03 Nearly eight million Americans swap out

9:05 their heating and cooling units every year.

9:07 We buy millions of backup generators and batteries every year.

9:11 Half a million households get rooftop solar, all on our own, with our own money.

9:18 OK, but maybe you have other questions like,

9:21 won't heat pumps add demand to the grid, for example?

9:26 Sometimes, yes.

9:27 But it turns out that in most of the country,

9:30 the grid is the most strained in the summer,

9:33 so replacing an inefficient air conditioner with an efficient

9:37 heat pump lowers the demand on the grid.

9:40 Who pays for the permits?

9:41 Not you.

9:43 That's the tech company.

9:44 Same as they would for a power plant.

9:46 Who fixes the equipment if it breaks?

9:49 Well you do, because it’s your equipment, you own it,

9:52 and it comes with a warranty and a number to call.

9:56 Can this even work?

9:58 Yes.

9:59 There are already hundreds of networks around the country of households

10:02 that are organized into what are called virtual power plants,

10:06 putting 30 gigawatts of power or more back to the grid.

10:11 OK, so it will work.

10:14 But the reality is, this is a deal we have to go get done.

10:18 Homegrown energy doesn't exist today, but I'm confident that it's coming.

10:23 Governor Sherrill in New Jersey,

10:25 she just signed one of the most robust laws in the country

10:28 that makes it possible for tech companies to get their power from households.

10:31 New York and Virginia are right behind her— your state,

10:34 your community could be next.

10:36 And so the scale of it all creates an opportunity to rewire

10:41 the system and make the deal work for all of us.

10:46 And we should take that opportunity.

10:49 So if a data center is underway or planned in your community,

10:55 you and your neighbors can flex your power and say

10:59 that investing in you is the threshold for entry, the baseline.

11:04 How do you do that?

11:06 Three simple ways.

11:08 Speak up.

11:09 If you see your neighbors on Nextdoor or on TikTok or whatever social,

11:14 talking about that data center project, reply to that post.

11:17 Tell them about homegrown energy and make it the conversation.

11:21 Rally your community.

11:23 Don't wait for the company to come to you with a deal.

11:26 Go to them together and insist that this is the deal.

11:30 Maybe you don't want to be the one that goes to the town hall meeting.

11:33 I get that.

11:34 But let’s be honest— we all know the person who does want to go.

11:37 So send them.

11:39 (Laughter) And then, keep the momentum going.

11:42 When you win the deal, use it.

11:45 Have your neighbors use it,

11:46 and then share what you and your neighbors accomplish with your network so

11:50 that communities across the country can be

11:52 inspired by your example and follow suit.

11:56 Why would you do any of this?

11:58 Maybe because it'll save you a bunch of money on your bills.

12:03 Because it’s better for the community and it is certainly better for our planet.

12:09 And for once in this AI story,

12:13 instead of feeling like the future is happening to us,

12:16 we get to have a say in how the next chapter goes.

12:21 That's shared power, our power, in plain sight.

12:25 And each of us, our communities and America, deserve nothing less.

12:31 Thank you.

12:32 (Applause)