Infrastructure Sustainability and the Data Center Power Dilemma

Microsoft’s plan to tap into a reactor at Three Mile Island to power data centers fuels questions about how far our voracious appetite for energy might go.

Joao-Pierre S. Ruth,Senior Editor,InformationWeek

September 30, 2024

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.

About the Author

Joao-Pierre S. Ruth

Senior Editor, InformationWeek

Joao-Pierre S. Ruth edits stories for InformationWeek as well as reports on C-suite tech leaders across a multitude of industries and tech disciplines. He also hosts the InformationWeek Podcast, which brings together CIOs, CTOs, and other C-suite leadership to discuss their different approaches to addressing shared challenges. He joined InformationWeek in 2019, initially as a Senior Writer covering cloud computing and DevOps. He became a Senior Editor in 2023.

His work with InformationWeek garnered American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBE) awards in 2024. This included "Could the DOJ's Antitrust Trial vs Google Drive More Innovation?" as part of the team’s Government Coverage, which collectively won a Bronze National award and a gold Northeast regional award, as well as a bronze regional award for a Web Feature Series on the environmental impact of data-driven organizations published during Earth Month. That award included his story "How Do Supercomputers Fit With Strategies for Sustainability?"

He has been a journalist for more than 25 years, reporting on business and technology first in New Jersey, then covering the New York tech startup community, and later as a freelancer for such outlets as TheStreet, Investopedia, and Street Fight.

Joao-Pierre can be reached via email at [email protected]

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