Caitlin Grady

Black text reads: "Science is going to get nowhere in this political conversation until it accepts that science is human, thus political not objective." The quote is from Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein.

Critiques of the myth of scientific neutrality have been issued for centuries. But, here we are, still training and evaluating scientists as if our neutrality is going to some how make science (and scientists) relevant, trustworthy, and usable. 1/

(HT @chanda.bsky.social for the evergreen quote)

This also destroy the research and innovation engine that powers our economy, health, national security, national competitiveness, well-being, and overall future. A dangerous and shameful act.

Acting on Trump's order, federal officials opened up two California dams The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just opened up two California dams. A spokesperson says the flows are 'controlled' and being coordinated with local officials.

This is not the right time for water releases. I hope people remember come summertime who made this bad call. #water #food #energy www.latimes.com/environment/...

My department is still receiving applications for this tenure-track opening: "intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics, including but not limited to theory and applications in machine learning, perception, planning, manipulation, and autonomous systems…"
www.gwu.jobs/postings/115...

We have several great posters this morning at #AGU24. Come join us! Abbey Kollar will be talking about #electricity #grid and #risk (poster GC31U-0097) and Sachi Nandurkar will be talking #EV #supply #chains at poster GC31U-0102)

Will message you!

Even though action can be slow, there has been progress! (And more to come) It’s also important to recognize all the cities, towns, local govs, and individuals making changes every day to fight climate change. I’m invigorated by those examples and motivated to keep pushing. #COP29 3/3

…in your class during a discussion. Then multiply that by hundreds of countries and dozens of agenda items. It’s hard to hold space for this dialogue and also deliver on progress in a 2 week meeting. So people might be disappointed we didn’t accomplish more during these two weeks… 2/3

Picture of Dr. Grady standing in front of the entrance to to conference hall at COP 29

Group of people listening to a panel at COP29

Negotiators at COP29

Some reflections from the ground at #COP29- there is a tension between the need for transparency and the need for speed in climate action. The same people are calling for both not recognizing the tension. Here me out on this- fellow professors, think about how long it takes to call on everyone..1/3

More on interconnection queue crisis. Not a limit of clean energy, a limit of connecting to the grid. Planning & operation optimization sync with other processes. We don't have architecture in place - physical (can build batteries, generation), don't have digital architecture, data sharing

Our existing system is built on temps & load of 20th century- given all of this we need to follow through on opportunity for change, creative options, AI use. Data centers won't react to price externally, opportunity to shape signals now. Virtual power plants, willing to act as flexible loads

Good discussion on siting decisions. Based on prevailing rates of electricity, workforce availability, optimized for the data center developer not necessarily the utility. but also interesting about when the cost might make DCs become their own generators

Q- among existing programs in power markets what could be low hanging fruit for data centers to engage with? A- it comes down to timescale- that data center can move consumption. The grid has whole range, (day ahead, real time, auxiliary, etc) but to participate need to exchange info w/market

Line - As we are getting more and more RE and Data Centers are more load, we need to place responsibility on DCs to match with renewable not just buy credits. Loads need to match regionally and hourly with renewable generation.

How do you compare short term v long term? Line speaking- A real driving force to RE on grid now is industry wants it. Pushing PPAs that has helped RE transition. Right now, model of putting more RE on grid is no longer quite working. Interconnection queue is bottleneck. #EnergySky

QA now- Costa talking main concern- AI is not sensitive to price. AI will turn electricity into money in the future. We need to make sure electricity is affordable, reliable, clean, resilient.

Tapestry - X, The Moonshot Factory Learn more about Tapestry, X's moonshot for the electric grid. Tapestry aims to speed the transition to a resilient, carbon-free electricity system by developing new computational tools that will crea...

Next opening remarks from Ravi Jain, Tapestry (Google). Moonshot for the Electricity Grid. Grid management, planning & operations have to be addressed holistically. Need collaborative partnerships, Utilize AI, data integration, and software innovation x.company/projects/tap...

Says consequences from under forecasting much more significant than over forecasting. How should utilities serve these large loads and how should they charge them among other customers? #EnergySky

Electricity Demand Growth and Forecasting in a Time of Change - Brattle In a new report, Brattle experts explore the rapidly changing landscape of load drivers and how they complicate load forecasting for utilities and system

He is showing 2 examples- one from #NYISO and #ERCOT load projections. #NYISO looking into #hydrogen as a load driver. In TX, utilities projection much higher if you include everything that c-suite executives say will be built. www.brattle.com/insights-eve...

Next up opening remarks from Bruce Tsuchida from Brattle. Categorizes the following drivers of electricity demand- data centers, onshoring & industrial electrification, cryptocurrency mining (separate from DC), building electrification, transportation electrification.

As data center load is growing- data centers can no longer assume carbon and price signals are external but could benefit from participating in the electricity market more directly.

Next up opening remarks from Line Roald from U of Wisconsin Madison- 2 ways to think about what a DC can do if it wants to contribute to a greener grid? grid focused (demand, market participation, flexibility); consumer focused (direct low carbon use)

@costasamaras.bsky.social starting strong with the need for principles for #Ethical #AI to include Energy and Climate. Doesn't raise people's energy bills, adds more clean power to grid, invests in distribution system infrastructure, increase reliability, flexibility, open data and rising efficiency

stage with panelists, Bruce Tsuchida, Brattle • Costa Samaras, Carnegie Mellon University • Line Roald, University of Wisconsin • Ravi Jain, Tapestry (Google)

Starting a fresh thread for the Panel on – Impact of Data Centers on the Grid- Moderator: Thomas Wilson, Electric Power Research Institute
Speakers:
• Bruce Tsuchida, Brattle
• @costasamaras.bsky.social, Carnegie Mellon
• Line Roald, University of Wisconsin
• Ravi Jain, Tapestry (Google)
#EnergySky

Next up Panel with @costasamaras.bsky.social, Moderator: Thomas Wilson, Electric Power Research Institute
Speakers:
• Bruce Tsuchida, Brattle
• Costa Samaras, Carnegie Mellon University
• Line Roald, University of Wisconsin
• Ravi Jain, Tapestry (Google)
#EnergySky

QA- can you talk about likely impacts to consumer energy prices? At level of modeling from EPRI we didn't see consumer price increase because much more renewable is added to the load/grid. Challengingly this is imperfect because we don't model individual consumers #EnergySky

He is now describing three dimensions of flexibility - designs of data centers, utilities programs/ electricity market programs, operational flexibility (planning, interconnection design, etc). #EnergySky

Nice interesting plot around different types of growth including EVs, heat pumps, industrial electrification, and data centers. Talking now about the many questions around flexibility. Need to convene different people with different expertise to discuss this. EPRI launched DCFlex initiative.

In 2021 Oregon would have not made top list of markets for data center energy use but now it's number 2 (after Virginia). Geographic spread happening more.

EPRI built their estimates based on real estate data. Came up with four scenarios, low, moderate growth, high growth, higher growth. Anywhere from 4% annual growth rate to 15% annual growth. Leads to 4.6% total E consumption or 9.1% total E consumption by 2030 nationally. #EnergySky