Infrastructure Sustainability and the Data Center Power Dilemma

When word came that Microsoft wants power from a nuclear reactor to be reopened at Three Mile Island, it put a spotlight on the pressure data centers face to further AI development.

Nuclear power to support escalating demands at data centers is not a new idea, but the Microsoft deal with energy supplier Constellation Energy to reopen a reactor might frame the road ahead. The reactor in question, Unit 1, operated until 2019 -- not the reactor shuttered in 1979.

The need for more power, not just nuclear, to support data centers during the rise of AI stirs questions about balancing green tech and not-in-my-backyard sentiments.

Are current data infrastructure plans sustainable from the perspective of energy supply and the health of the planet? Have we backed ourselves into a corner as we chase AI?

This episode of DOS Won’t Hunt brought together Juan Orlandini, chief technology officer, North America with Insight Enterprises, and Sandeep Chandna, chief sustainability officer with Tech Mahindra, to discuss how energy-starved data centers are, whether ESG efforts can improve energy management among data centers, and whether sentiment led to the villainization of nuclear power in this equation.

Listen to the full podcast here.