Sweating It Out: Data Centers Plus Summer Heat Raises Power Bills, Blackout Risk

Sweating It Out: Data Centers Plus Summer Heat Raises Power Bills, Blackout Risk

In September 2022, as triple-digit outdoor temperatures baked large parts of California for days at a time, state officials begged residents to dial down their air conditioning use or risk breaking the electrical grid. The plea worked. Power demand fell during peak hours and the state avoided widespread, potentially catastrophic rolling blackouts. Almost exactly three months later, OpenAI launched the first version of ChatGPT. The artificial int…