What you need to know

Civilisation thinks it’s investing in own future, but isn’t really

What? Bloomberg’s figures are in: $1.8T invested in energy transition in 2023
This is great! Can I kick back? No. We need to be spending $4.84T/year. Costs a lot, that whole “reconstructing our way of life”. Still, the graph is on the way up.
Read more: BloombergNEF’s Energy Transition Investment Trends 2024

Artificial Intelligence: wants power, needs power

What? AI needs 4x electricity of normal data centres, themselves c1.5% of power. So AI to double that, by 2027. Same power demand as Japan.
Give me a fun but meaningless stat! If Google Search alone switched to AI, it’d use the same electricity as Ireland (and need $100bn of new servers)
Read more: DataCenter Magazine, Scientific American

UK car chargers increase 45%, critics still gripe

Range anxiety? Charging problems make good stories for “dead tree press” journos. The reality is you can live with an EV, certainly in South East England.
How’s it happening? Supply loves demand 💍. EVs sell, chargers go in.
Read more: UK Department for Transport

Two things to worry about

Like to ski? Get a move on, the snow’s going. Alps heating faster than elsewhere - over 2ºC already, reports the FT.

Nature found snowpack cover is 36 days shorter now. This isn’t just about fun: the irrigation and drinking water implications are huge.

Temperature: records broken 8 months straight

Again. Warmest January on record. 1.56ºC above pre-industrial. Sea temps worse, literally off the scale.

Extrapolations show 2024 could be 1.9-2.2ºC warmer. Bad. Really bad 😰.

One thing to be optimistic about

“Peak oil cars” happened already. Who knew? Sales topped out in 2017. Down 23% from the top, finds BloombergNEF 💪.

If you’ve got more time, read this…

Energy gets headlines, but farming matters as much. Jonathan Foley summed up on X some of the big points, and wrote a long-form piece here:

• Agriculture has disrupted the planet more than anything, now covering 35-40% of all ice-free land and using 70% of the water

• Responsible for the largest habit loss and species decline ever

• Pumps out 33% of carbon emissions (electricity is 25%)

• Fertilisers doubled nitrogen and phosphorous, degrading rivers & lakes

If you like this newsletter, please forward to friends or colleagues who might appreciate it. Sign up at maxaitken.com - it’s free.

My new business is Beaverbrook Energy - supporting commercial & industrial companies in the energy transition. Follow us on LinkedIn ahead of our 2024 launch.