{"id":377881,"date":"2025-05-10T13:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T11:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377881"},"modified":"2025-05-10T13:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T11:59:13","slug":"google-accused-of-greenwashing-massive-ai-energy-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377881","title":{"rendered":"Google Accused of Greenwashing Massive AI Energy Consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by<\/strong> Eric Worrall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accused of signing zero carbon nuclear deals with no timeline, scanty details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Google tries to greenwash massive AI energy consumption with another vague nuclear deal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chocolate Factory promises early-stage capital to atomic upstart Elementl<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brandon Vigliarolo <\/a>
Wed 7 May 2025  \/\/ 19:02 UTC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google has signed a strategic agreement with nuclear project developer Elementl Power to support the early development of three potential fission reactor sites in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with no selected reactor tech and no construction timeline, the announcement sounds more like a handwaving exercise to distract onlookers from the massive amount of energy that will be expended as Google and other companies race to capitalize on the AI boom.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as The Register<\/em> pointed out recently, Google\u2019s nuclear plans \u2013 along with those backed<\/a> by Meta<\/a>, Amazon<\/a>, and others \u2013 may be too little too late<\/a> to address the growing concerns that there isn\u2019t enough power to fuel the growing demand from datacenters and AI. Experts predict an \u201cunprecedented\u201d spike in demand, driven in part by datacenter and AI growth, that could require 3,500 TWh<\/a> of new energy generation by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google\u2019s own plans for AI expansion are gigantic. Google parent company Alphabet said<\/a>in its most recent earnings call last month that it intended to invest $75 billion in CapEx in 2025, much of that going to servers and datacenters to support the expansion of Google services and DeepMind AI products. At least a portion of the electricity going into those data centers is generated by burning fossil fuels, which contribute to global warming: Google itself admitted in its 2024 environmental report<\/a> AI investments were a big factor as Google\u2019s carbon emissions to increase by 13 percent year-over-year, writing \u201cOverall, our total GHG emissions increased by 13% \u2014 highlighting the challenge of reducing emissions while compute intensity increases and we grow our technical infrastructure investment to support this AI transition.\u201d Overall, the report said, its emissions grew 48% between 2019 and 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2025\/05\/07\/google_signs_another_nuclear_deal\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The green movement is finished. The AI revolution has barely begun, yet the momentum behind AI is already unstoppable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait until advanced AI powered consumer devices \u2013 robotic household servants which can mind the kids, take care of the gardening, or provide for other needs \u2013 start penetrating the consumer market at scale. There is no way the gargantuan energy needs of the AI required to power such consumer tech will be satisfied by handwaving agreements with early-stage nuke startups, it will be all hands-on deck for new dispatchable energy capacity in whatever form is most readily available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Accused of signing zero carbon nuclear deals with no timeline, scanty details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":377884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691823433,691828303,691819793,691834967],"class_list":{"0":"post-377881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-ai-artificial-intelligence-2","9":"tag-energy-consumption","10":"tag-google","11":"tag-nuclear-project","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0Google-I_o-event.webp?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1AiR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":439873,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=439873","url_meta":{"origin":377881,"position":0},"title":"The Collision: Climate Guilt Collides with AI’s Insatiable Power Appetite","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/16\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The \"climate guilt\" narrative, which has long emphasized reducing energy use, curbing consumption, and prioritizing rapid decarbonization through intermittent renewables, is slamming into the physics of the AI era: massive, always-on computational demand that doesn't tolerate blackouts, brownouts, or weather-dependent supply.","rel":"","context":"In \"AI (artificial intelligence)\"","block_context":{"text":"AI (artificial intelligence)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ai-artificial-intelligence-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-The-Collision-Climate-Guilt-Collides-with-AIs-Insatiable-Power-Appetite.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-The-Collision-Climate-Guilt-Collides-with-AIs-Insatiable-Power-Appetite.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-The-Collision-Climate-Guilt-Collides-with-AIs-Insatiable-Power-Appetite.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-The-Collision-Climate-Guilt-Collides-with-AIs-Insatiable-Power-Appetite.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-The-Collision-Climate-Guilt-Collides-with-AIs-Insatiable-Power-Appetite.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":286427,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=286427","url_meta":{"origin":377881,"position":1},"title":"COP28 Organisers Already Accused of Greenwashing","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As the world grapples with the escalating urgency of climate change, the United Nations\u2019 upcoming COP28 climate summit finds itself entangled in a web of controversy. 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