Source: World Economic Forum (video statements)
Global demand for electricity is soaring, as wars in Ukraine and Iran squeeze fossil fuel supply chains and the race for AI makes data centres a significant power consumer.
Divya Reddy, Manager of Energy Initiatives at the World Economic Forum sets out the challenge, and Varun Sivaram, Founder and CEO of Emerald AI explains how data centres can be made "good citizens to communities and power grids alike".
Links:
World Economic Forum Centre for Energy and Materials: https://centres.weforum.org/centre-for-energy-and-materials/home
Future of Power Systems: https://initiatives.weforum.org/future-power-system/home
Innovation Playbook for Future Power Systems: https://initiatives.weforum.org/future-power-system/innovation-playbook
Emerald AI: https://www.emeraldai.co/
Related podcasts:
The Hormuz shock, AI and China: the state of global energy, with Jason Bordoff: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/radio-davos/episodes/amnc26-energy-china-hormuz-oil-gas-renewables-bordoff/
How cutting emissions is future-proofing industries beyond the ‘green premium’: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/radio-davos/episodes/first-movers-coalition-2026/
The green revolution is unstoppable: Adam Tooze on “the single most dramatic story in the history of energy”: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/radio-davos/episodes/adam-tooze-china-trade-energy-climate-pandemics/
What I tell my Stern Business School students on how to thrive in the age of AI: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/radio-davos/episodes/arun-sundararajan-ai-jobs-skills-education/
Check out all our podcasts on wef.ch/podcasts:
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@wef/podcasts
Radio Davos – subscribe: https://pod.link/1504682164
Meet the Leader – subscribe: https://pod.link/1534915560
Agenda Dialogues – subscribe: https://pod.link/1574956552
The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. It provides a global, impartial and not-for-profit platform for meaningful connection between stakeholders to establish trust, and build initiatives for cooperation and progress.
00:00 Intro: AI data centres and the global surge in electricity demand
00:36 Welcome to Radio Davos with Divya Reddy, World Economic Forum
02:23 Why electricity demand is rising: energy crises and electrification
03:41 How much power do AI data centres use?
05:53 Peak demand, wind and solar, and the grid balancing challenge
07:35 Quick wins: making better use of existing grid infrastructure
08:18 WEF Innovation Playbook for Future Power Systems and upcoming white paper
09:28 How flexible data centres can ease pressure on the power grid
11:01 Introducing Varun Sivaram, CEO of Emerald AI
12:01 What is Emerald AI? Data centres as good grid citizens
12:37 The scale of AI energy consumption in the US and China
14:28 The solution: power-flexible AI data centres (the super highway analogy)
16:54 How it works: slowing, delaying and moving AI workloads
19:35 What’s needed: proof, a coalition and a grand bargain with regulators
23:21 Why utilities love flexible data centres: reliability, cost and keeping customers
26:44 Can data centres promise communities lower power bills?
29:30 The AI Energy Management Alliance: Google, NVIDIA, Anthropic and more
31:38 Is it too late to win public support for data centres?
34:00 Wrap-up: future power systems, COP and Davos 2027
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