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Earth Intelligence

09 Mar 2024 — 5 min read

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TikTok Bill
Nuclear Powered Data Center

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TikTok Bill:

TikTok executives are expressing concern over a proposed bill that might lead to the Chinese-owned app being banned in the United States. This bill has gained traction in the House of Representatives, especially after House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, supported it following a unanimous 50-0 vote in a bipartisan committee. The legislation would compel TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell off all its app holdings within 180 days to avoid a ban. Additionally, it sets up a mechanism for future bans on apps considered security risks by the executive branch.
The bill was initiated by Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin and head of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. In response, TikTok and ByteDance have been vocal in their opposition, framing the bill as a violation of free speech rights. They argue that it effectively bans TikTok under a guise, impacting the free speech of 170 million Americans and affecting 5 million small businesses that use the platform for growth and job creation.

Nuclear Powered Data Center:

On March 7, 2024, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud division of Amazon, finalized a deal to purchase a nuclear-powered data center for $650 million in Pennsylvania. This facility, known as the Cumulus data center, was developed by Talen Energy next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, a 2.5 gigawatt facility operated by the utility.
AWS, a dominant force in cloud computing, serving businesses, startups, and governmental bodies globally, reported $24 billion in revenue for the final quarter of 2023. The transition to cloud computing offers users access to cutting-edge technology without the need for individual investments. However, the growing reliance on cloud services has led to data centers consuming 1% of the world's electricity, much of it sourced from fossil fuels, thus escalating the carbon emissions of tech giants like AWS, Google, and Microsoft.
The tech industry's rapid embrace of artificial intelligence (AI) has further accelerated the search for renewable energy solutions. AI's reliance on energy-intensive graphic processing units (GPUs) is expected to drive a 50% increase in data center energy consumption over the next three years. Tech companies have traditionally looked to wind and solar power to green their operations, but the surging energy demand has made nuclear energy an attractive alternative for its carbon-free power.
Amazon, aiming for 100% renewable energy usage by 2025 and already the largest renewable energy purchaser with 8.8 GW bought last year, is now venturing into nuclear energy with its acquisition of the Cumulus data center. This facility, operational since 2023, currently uses 48 megawatts (MW) of power and sits on a 1,200-acre site with plans for expansion up to 475 MW by Talen, which AWS could potentially increase.

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