If you’re like me, this week is a chance to let feet, brains, and livers recuperate from a very hectic but exciting week in New York. I’m very grateful to those of you I got to meet in person last week, either for interviews, events, or happy hours — so many of our readers are doing amazing work that shows no sign of slowing down.
The question of finding the power required for AI data centers dominated many discussions, unsurprisingly, but with less of the panic I remember from similar conversations in prior years. And over and over, when conversations turned to energy reliability and affordability, the most ready answer across a broad range of sectors was renewables, not fossil fuels — even though emissions and climate change, per se, were mentioned less often than in the past.
At the same time, losing sight of underlying climate science carries its own risks: Calls for energy “pragmatism” and “realism,” as Columbia University’s Jason Bordoff wrote in his own Climate Week reflection yesterday, “are welcome but also seldom accompanied by a clear understanding of what those words mean other than we need to move more slowly to bring global emissions down.”
One last observation from the week that I think usefully illustrates some of the challenges ahead: On Sunday I took a spin around Governors Island (which is lovely and worth the short ferry ride!), where a number of climate tech installations were on display. One that stood out was an innovative cooling structure by the design firm Henning Larsen and others. Instead of pumping in conventional air conditioning, it was surrounded by proprietary glass panes filled with cooled water. The space inside was remarkably cool, even though it was partially open to the outside air. Space cooling is a critical climate adaptation, and we need more tech like this that can provide the comfort of air conditioning with a fraction of AC’s energy and carbon footprint.
There was, however, one snag, Lois Suh, one of the designers, told me: The structure is supposed to run on solar panels, but the group couldn’t get a permit from New York City to install them on top — so instead it had to run off regular (mostly gas) power from the grid.
Climate tech, in other words, is only as useful as the policy environment it has to exist in. So there’s still plenty of work for climate advocates ahead.