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Amazon Just Bought a Nuclear-Powered Data Center

On clean cloud computing, e-bike accidents, and battery prices

Amazon Just Bought a Nuclear-Powered Data Center
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: A tumbleweed invasion nearly buried some houses in Utah • Storms triggered floods, avalanches, and tornadoes across Italy • California’s snowpack is above normal levels for the first time this year.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Amazon Web Services buys nuclear-powered data center

Amazon’s cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services, just paid $650 million for a data center that runs on nuclear power. Talen Energy’s Cumulus data center campus in Pennsylvania gets power from the Susquehanna nuclear plant, one of the largest nuclear power plants in the U.S. It will give Amazon a supply of clean carbon-free power, which the company could use to run energy-intensive artificial intelligence operations. The Wall Street Journalreported that AI searches require 10 times more computing power than regular searches. Amazon’s new data center campus could give it a leg-up over other tech giants because “companies looking to start data centers running AI face delays in getting permits to connect to grids, and long waits for the installation of transmission lines to connect utilities to their facilities.”

2. E-bike accidents account for majority of NYC cycling deaths

Thirty cyclists died in New York City last year, the highest number since 1999, The New York Timesreported, citing Department of Transportation data. Twenty-three of those killed were riding electric bikes, and most of them collided with vehicles in areas lacking proper cycling infrastructure. However the Times notes that a good portion (about one-third) of the e-bike riders who died were in solo crashes – accidents that did not involve cars or pedestrians, a trend that isn’t seen among traditional bike-riders. “There may be a learning curve that some first-time e-bike riders aren’t prepared for,” said Sara Lind, an executive director at Open Plans. “It’s very possible that that learning curve, combined with the speed of the bike, exacerbates already confusing or chaotic conditions. Navigating a pothole or a suddenly blocked bike lane is more dangerous at a higher speed, emphasizing even more the need for better infrastructure as more people use e-bikes.” Some e-bikes can reach speeds of 25 mph, though NYC is reducing the top speeds of electric Citi Bikes to 18 mph.

3. NOAA warns of mass coral bleaching event

The world is on the cusp of the worst mass coral bleaching event in the history of the planet, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned. Climate change and El Niño have sent ocean temperatures soaring, and already “the Southern Hemisphere is basically bleaching all over the place,” ecologist Derek Manzello, the coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch, told Reuters. “The entirety of the Great Barrier Reef is bleaching. We just had reports that American Samoa is bleaching.” Researchers believe a sustained global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius is a tipping point for mass coral reef die-off. Coral reef ecosystems provide a home to thousands of species of fish and other plants and animals, and are essential sources of food and income for millions of people around the world. NOAA notes that “when a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.”

4. Goldman Sachs predicts battery prices will soon plummet

In case you missed it, Goldman Sachs is forecasting that electric vehicle battery prices will fall dramatically in the coming months thanks to an increased supply of minerals like nickel and lithium, plus innovations in manufacturing. In a research note, the firm said it expects battery prices to drop by 40% between 2023 and 2025, resulting in “breakthrough levels” of cost parity with internal combustion engine cars in some markets. By 2030, Goldman sees EVs accounting for 50% of U.S. car sales. Looking ahead, Nikhil Bhandari, co-head of Asia-Pacific Natural Resources and Clean Energy Research, said major innovations like solid-state batteries could “be a game-changer for the industry.” Batteries can account for one-third of the cost of an EV.

5. Man charged with smuggling greenhouse gases into U.S.

Here’s a weird one: A California man has been charged with smuggling greenhouse gases into the U.S., Axiosreported. Michael Hart allegedly bought hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in Mexico, hid them in his vehicle, and brought them into the States where he listed them for sale. HFCs are greenhouse gases used in refrigeration. The United Nations’ Climate and Clean Air Coalition says HFCs represent around 2% of total greenhouse gases, but “their impact on global warming can be hundreds to thousands of times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2) per unit of mass.” The EPA is trying to implement a phase-down of HFCs, and said smuggling them "undermines international efforts to combat climate change.”

THE KICKER

Just three of this year’s Oscar-nominated films (Barbie, Nyad, and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One) pass the “Climate Reality Check,” a two-part test that asks if climate change exists in a film’s story, and if at least one character knows about it.

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Energy

AM Briefing: Power Hungry

On the IEAs latest report, flooding in LA, and Bill Gates’ bad news

Global Electricity Use Is Expected to Soar
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Severe thunderstorms tomorrow could spawn tornadoes in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama • A massive wildfire on a biodiverse island in the Indian Ocean has been burning for nearly a month, threatening wildlife • Tropical Cyclone Zelia has made landfall in Western Australia with winds up to 180mph.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Breakthrough Energy to slash climate grantmaking budget

Bill Gates’ climate tech advocacy organization has told its partners that it will slash its grantmaking budget this year, dealing a blow to climate-focused policy and advocacy groups that relied on the Microsoft founder, Heatmap’s Katie Brigham has learned. Breakthrough Energy, the umbrella organization for Gates’ various climate-focused programs, alerted many nonprofit grantees earlier this month that it would not be renewing its support for them. This pullback will not affect Breakthrough’s $3.5 billion climate-focused venture capital arm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which funds an extensive portfolio of climate tech companies. Breakthrough’s fellowship program, which provides early-stage climate tech leaders with funding and assistance, will also remain intact, a spokesperson confirmed. They would not comment on whether this change will lead to layoffs at Breakthrough Energy.

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Climate Tech

Breakthrough Energy Is Slashing Its Climate Grantmaking Budget

Grantees told Heatmap they were informed that Bill Gates’ climate funding organization would not renew its support.

Bill Gates.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Bill Gates’ climate tech advocacy organization has told its partners that it will slash its grantmaking budget this year, dealing a blow to climate-focused policy and advocacy groups that relied on the Microsoft founder, Heatmap has learned.

Breakthrough Energy, the umbrella organization for Gates’ various climate-focused programs, alerted many nonprofit grantees earlier this month that it would not be renewing its support for them. This pullback will not affect Breakthrough’s $3.5 billion climate-focused venture capital arm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which funds an extensive portfolio of climate tech companies. Breakthrough’s fellowship program, which provides early-stage climate tech leaders with funding and assistance, will also remain intact, a spokesperson confirmed. They would not comment on whether this change will lead to layoffs at Breakthrough Energy.

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Spotlight

Anti-Wind Activists Have a Big Ask for the Big Man

The Trump administration is now being lobbied to nix offshore wind projects already under construction.

Trump and offshore wind.
Getty Images / Heatmap Illustration

Anti-wind activists have joined with well-connected figures in conservative legal and energy circles to privately lobby the Trump administration to undo permitting decisions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to documents obtained by Heatmap.

Representatives of conservative think tanks and legal nonprofits — including the Caesar Rodney Institute, the Heartland Institute and Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, or CFACT — sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum dated February 11 requesting that the Trump administration “immediately revoke” letters from NOAA to 11 offshore wind projects authorizing “incidental takes,” a term of regulatory art referencing accidental and permissible deaths under federal endangered species and mammal protection laws. The letter lays out a number of perceived issues with how those approvals have historically been issued for offshore wind companies and claims the government has improperly analyzed the cumulative effects of adding offshore wind to the ocean’s existing industrialization. NOAA oversees marine species protection.

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