Cover of So... What's a Data Center? AI and The Environment Explained

So... What's a Data Center? AI and The Environment Explained

So... What's a Data Center? AI and The Environment Explained

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Host Nicole Russell-Wharton sits down with Steph Speirs, clean energy entrepreneur, climate educator at Yale School of Management, and host of Future in Bloom. Steph spent a decade building Solstice into a 350-megawatt community solar company before it was acquired by a global infrastructure firm. Raised on welfare as the child of immigrants, she built her career on making clean energy accessible to the people usually left out of it, and she's spent the years since teaching people the parts of the energy system nobody explains to them. In this episode, she and Nicole break down what actually happens the second you send an AI prompt, why some data centers help the communities they land in while others quietly wreck them, and who really holds the power to decide which one gets built next door. If you've ever felt guilty for using AI, confused about what a data center even does, or unsure whether any of this is something you can actually influence, this episode is for you.

In this episode:
  • What actually happens in the seconds after you hit enter on an AI prompt
  • Why "heat islands" are real, but not what the internet thinks they are
  • Who's really responsible when a data center raises a community's electric bill
  • The five questions every community should ask before a data center gets built
  • Why NDAs between tech companies and towns are more common than people think
  • Whether it's fair to feel guilty about using AI at all
  • What actually separates a good data center from a harmful one


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Connect with Steph: Steph Speirs on Youtube
Future In Bloom

A Podcast Presented by Precious Dreams Foundation
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