AI knowledge facilities may very well be ‘distorting’ the US energy grid

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The proliferation of knowledge facilities aiming to fulfill the computational wants of AI may very well be dangerous information for the US energy grid, in response to a brand new report in Bloomberg.

Utilizing the 1 million residential sensors tracked by Whisker Labs, together with market intelligence knowledge from DC Byte, Bloomberg discovered that greater than half of the households displaying the worst energy distortions stay inside 20 miles of serious knowledge middle exercise.

In different phrases, there seems to be a hyperlink between knowledge middle proximity and “dangerous harmonics” — a time period for the less-than-ideal circulation {of electrical} energy into houses.

Bloomberg says this “distorted” energy may ultimately destroy plugged-in home equipment, improve vulnerability to electrical fires, and even result in brownouts and blackouts. And AI knowledge facilities may very well be much more problematic due to their risky vitality necessities.

“No grid is designed to have the ability to deal with that form of load fluctuation not just for one knowledge middle however for a number of knowledge facilities on the similar time,” stated Bloom Vitality’s chief business officer Aman Joshi.

A spokesperson for Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison instructed Bloomberg the utility “strongly questions the accuracy and underlying assumptions of Whisker Lab’s claims.”

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