New data centers tap unused wind and solar power to lower costs and cut waste

Some data center companies are moving off-grid and plugging into stranded renewable energy that would otherwise go to waste as transmission bottlenecks and AI demand stress the U.S. power system.

Arcelia Martin reports for Inside Climate News.

In short:

Renewable energy developers often shut down turbines or solar panels during peak generation because outdated grids can’t carry the extra power, resulting in energy waste.
Companies like Soluna are building data centers near renewable energy sites to buy and use this excess energy at low cost, reducing curtailment while powering cryptocurrency mining and AI services.
Soluna and others now operate facilities in Texas and Kentucky and plan hundreds more megawatts of capacity; they also ramp power use up or down in response to grid needs.

Key quote:

“Decisions around where data centers get built have shifted dramatically over the last six months, with access to power now playing the most significant role in location scouting. The grid can’t keep pace with AI demands, so the industry is taking control with onsite power generation.”

— Aman Joshi, Bloom Energy’s chief commercial officer

Why this matters:

As wind and solar grow across the U.S., energy curtailment — the practice of shutting down renewable energy generators because the grid can’t handle the load — is becoming a major efficiency problem. In 2021 alone, enough electricity to power over a million homes was wasted, largely due to transmission limits. That waste not only represents lost revenue but also undermines efforts to decarbonize the power grid. Meanwhile, energy-hungry data centers supporting artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency are booming. Many now see stranded renewables as a cheap and abundant resource. Co-locating data centers with wind and solar farms helps absorb this excess energy and can ease strain on overloaded grids. But the trend also raises questions about land use, water demand, and whether tech’s energy hunger will worsen emissions elsewhere.

insideclimatenews.org

A residential garbage can overflows with plastic bottles and other waste.

Credit: the blowup/Unsplash

New pricing system helps small town slash its garbage output

When Plympton, Massachusetts started charging by the bag for trash, it nearly halved the town’s garbage — and saved thousands of dollars in the process.

Tik Root reports for Grist.

In short:

Plympton cut its annual trash output from 640 to 335 tons after shifting from a flat-fee dump sticker to a “pay-as-you-throw” model charging per bag.
The new pricing system incentivized recycling and composting, saving the town about $65,000 a year and reducing landfill-related emissions.
Nearly half of Massachusetts municipalities now use PAYT, and experts say volume-based pricing drives waste reduction without unfairly burdening small or low-income households.

Key quote:

“We found that demand for waste disposal was really responsive to price. If you raise the price of trash, people are going to find ways to not put as much out at the curb.”

— John Halstead, retired professor of environmental economics at the University of New Hampshire and an author of a study on New Hampshire's pay-as-you-throw model

Why this matters:

Less landfill use means fewer toxics in the air and water, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and more recycled materials in circulation. Plympton’s story shows that smart policy doesn’t have to be punitive or complicated — it just has to make people see the cost of their choices, and let common sense do the rest.

How a government feud threatens decades of scientific progress

The Trump administration’s move to cut off $2.6 billion in federal research funding to Harvard has upended a vital engine of American science, with ripple effects that reach far beyond a single university.

Emily Badger, Aatish Bhatia, and Ethan Singer report for The New York Times.

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