A top Department of Energy official on Wednesday urged companies to cut their energy use as data center growth signals problems for the electric grid.
Gene Rodrigues, assistant secretary for electricity at DOE, said a strategy to “just build more” power generation with “bigger plants” is the “most inefficient way” to provide affordable and reliable electricity amid demand spikes and rising global temperatures.
“The problem before us is: How do we balance this increasing demand — this increasing load — and meet those needs and those demands with clean energy accessible to all,” he told a summit for the trade group Alliance to Save Energy. “If you only work on one end of the scale, that is not only inefficient, it’s just plain dumb.”
The Wednesday event — with the slogan “demand is the new supply” — took place at the American Gas Association headquarters in Washington. It featured remarks from Alliance to Save Energy members, an EPA official and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), chair of the group’s Honorary Board of Advisors.
