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We suspected data centers were creating an energy crisis for Virginia. Now it’s official.
It is a truth universally acknowledged: a politician in possession of elected office must be in want of large economic development projects. Such is the power of this compulsion that it is proof against all reason. Certainly, it has been proof against everything critics of the data center buildout have said so far: that Virginia […]
Data centers approved, solar farms rejected: What is going on in rural Virginia?
If Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly are aligned on one thing, it’s their enthusiasm for bringing more data centers to the commonwealth. Where they part ways is in how to provide enough electricity to power them. Youngkin and most Republican legislators advocate for an “all of the above” approach […]
Under pressure from the SCC, Dominion reveals the true cost of data centers
Ever since data centers started spreading across the Virginia landscape like an invasive pest, one important question has remained unanswered: How much does the industry’s insatiable demand for energy impact other utility customers? Under pressure from the SCC, this month Dominion Energy Virginia finally provided the answer we feared: Ordinary Virginia customers are subsidizing Big […]
The clean energy revolution will continue
Eight years ago this week, I wrote a column titled, “Why Trump won’t stop the clean energy revolution.” Calling global warming a hoax, businessman and reality TV star Donald J. Trump had just been elected with a promise to save coal jobs and pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord. Climate activists were […]
Once again, Dominion’s energy plan falls short. This time, the SCC isn’t having it.
On October 15, Dominion Energy Virginia filed its 2024 integrated resource plan (IRP), and just as in 2023, the company shows no inclination to meet the carbon-cutting requirements of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). Blaming soaring load growth from data centers, Dominion models only scenarios with increasing amounts of fossil fuel generation to supplement […]
As Virginia’s SCC prepares to tackle the data center surge, it can learn from Ohio
Energy use is skyrocketing across Virginia with the proliferation of new data centers, but as it turns out, we are not alone. Across the country, the rise of artificial intelligence and its voracious demand for power has prompted tech companies to locate new data centers wherever they think they can secure the necessary land, energy […]
Is sewage sludge laced with ‘forever chemicals’ contaminating Va. farmland? No one’s testing it.
It’s out of sight and out of mind, and it might just be killing people. For decades, American factories have been sending their wastewater to municipal sewage treatment plants across the country, which handle it along with the effluent from other industries, homes and businesses. At the other end of the process, the separated and […]
Geothermal energy is having a moment. Could it power Virginia’s data centers?
Drill down far enough into the earth, and you will hit hot rocks. Energy companies have used this heat to generate carbon-free electricity for more than a century. It’s an elegant concept, but it worked only where pockets of heat lay close to the surface, accompanied by steam ready-made to turn turbines. Those limitations confined […]
The strange obsession with low birth rates
The human population of the Earth passed 8 billion in 2022, up from 7 billion in 2011 and less than 2 billion just a century ago. The United Nations projects that by 2050, the world will hit 9.7 billion people and continue rising to 10.9 billion in 2100. The average number of children women have […]
Amazon claims to power all its operations with renewable energy. If only that were true.
When Amazon announced this month that it had achieved 100% renewable energy seven years ahead of schedule, that sounded like really good news for Virginia. Amazon owns more data centers here than anyone else, and data center energy demand is driving Dominion Energy Virginia’s plan to renege on its climate commitments, keep dirty coal plants […]
AI could usher in a golden age of technological breakthroughs – if it doesn’t kill us first
Somehow, we were not prepared for this. Artificial intelligence was in development for decades, during which time we fantasized about all the wonderful things it was going to do for us. And then the bots launched almost fully formed like Athena springing from the forehead of Zeus with her sword in hand, and only then […]
The Pentagon’s plan to go solar: another chapter in a great American success story
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin can’t run for reelection, so it’s frustrating to see him spending so much time trying to score political points. The latest episode came earlier this month, when according to Fox News, Youngkin sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin questioning the Pentagon’s plan, announced back in January, to install solar […]