Coal is not clean, it’s not beautiful, and we don’t need it for AI

This week, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to revive ”America’s beautiful, clean coal industry” such that it can power the rise in electricity demand from, among other things, artificial intelligence. Ironically, on the same day as President Trump’s Executive Order, the US Energy Information Administration released its Short-Term Energy Outlook, projecting that coal production will fall another 9 per cent by 2026. This, they noted, was due to “coal’s continued competition with natural gas and renewables in the electric power sector.” ‘This week’s executive order may act as a double espresso for the coal industry’s short-term future, but I can’t see that energy high lasting much longer’ However, while coal has faded from the American energy landscape, a whole new set of power demands seems to be waiting on the very near horizon. As Conal Campbell, Senior Policy Lead at Ireland’s EirGrid, noted this week, “between 2015 and 2022, global internet traffic increased by 600 per cent, but energy used by data centres grew by less than 70 per cent thanks to technological improvements.” While America’s tech giants aim to pour billions into maximising the AI industry as quickly as possible, competitors from China and India have already highlighted potential step-change improvements in efficiency.