DOE’s Geri Richmond Lays Out the Power Challenge of AI
Under Secretary for Science and Innovation Geri Richmond leads the Department of Energy’s efforts focused on research and development. She oversees most of the DOE national laboratories and is a key advisor on cutting edge technology for the Secretary of Energy and the President of the United States. Richmond is on leave from the University of Oregon, where she is a professor of chemistry, and she was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2013. Richmond held a fireside chat at the ASME Power Conference in September, where she spoke about the intersection of artificial intelligence and power generation. The excerpts below were edited for length and clarity.
ASME: How do we balance the voracious energy appetite for AI and the imperative to move toward sustainable and environmentally friendly power sources?
Geri Richmond: Today, datacenters take about 4 percent of electric power. By 2030, it will be 9 percent. That’s a huge jump. That’s why we have a number of different initiatives at the Department of Energy and worldwide to make sure that we can meet the energy needs that we have for AI, as well as for electric vehicles and all the manufacturing that’s now coming back to the U.S.
Under Secretary for Science and Innovation Geri Richmond
Let me give you an idea of these energy efficiency areas that need attention: Advanced reconductoring. Distribution automation. Point-to-point high-voltage DC. Advanced flexible transformers. If you want to lose sleep these days, think about our supply of transformers, or lack thereof. We also must change the way we do our power generation in towns, factories, and neighborhoods.
ASME: Historically, when there is a gap between demand and supply, that gap becomes a breeding ground for innovation. Given the requirement for reducing carbon emissions, what innovations in the power industry do you see?
Richmond: We need advances in energy storage technology. Nobody’s going to doubt that. And nuclear energy—In the last six months, people in the AI industry have approached me to ask: Can you get U.S. companies to provide us a small modular nuclear reactor? And how soon? So nuclear energy is something that will be very important in our future. In terms of emerging technologies, we have a lot going on with regards to fusion energy, and how you couple fusion and nuclear power with renewables coming onto the grid at the same time. The integration of smart grid technologies and AI will certainly help us with that.
More on this Topic: Crunching Numbers, Sustainably
On the demand side, DOE laboratories have two of the most powerful exascale computers in the world. One of those is 200 times more efficient than any other exascale computer, and it’s more efficient because we’ve been working on it for a long time since we knew that this would take a tremendous amount of power from the grid.
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ASME: A lot of recent engineering school graduates have gone into finance and may soon be going into AI. How do we make sure the most talented, most thoughtful people are solving the energy transition challenges?
Richmond: If there’s one thing that keeps me up late at night, it’s how we’re going to build that workforce. The power sector needs more than graduates with B.S. or Ph.Ds. They need community college students and people that are in the trades to come over. So, let’s make sure we are thinking broadly about talent.
And then you ask someone who might be going into finance, “What are you doing to save the planet?” When I talk to young people, I ask them “Why not go into chemistry or physics?” They are great, great areas. Make a new kind of molecule and save the planet.
We in STEM fields really need to be more proactive in bragging about what we do. Climate change is the most important thing this world and this nation has ever faced. When I talk to young people about this—and by young, I mean under 40, maybe under 50—they are really thinking about what their lives mean, and what they can do.
Jeffrey Winters is editor in chief of Mechanical Engineering magazine.
ASME: How do we balance the voracious energy appetite for AI and the imperative to move toward sustainable and environmentally friendly power sources?
Geri Richmond: Today, datacenters take about 4 percent of electric power. By 2030, it will be 9 percent. That’s a huge jump. That’s why we have a number of different initiatives at the Department of Energy and worldwide to make sure that we can meet the energy needs that we have for AI, as well as for electric vehicles and all the manufacturing that’s now coming back to the U.S.
Under Secretary for Science and Innovation Geri Richmond
ASME: Historically, when there is a gap between demand and supply, that gap becomes a breeding ground for innovation. Given the requirement for reducing carbon emissions, what innovations in the power industry do you see?
Richmond: We need advances in energy storage technology. Nobody’s going to doubt that. And nuclear energy—In the last six months, people in the AI industry have approached me to ask: Can you get U.S. companies to provide us a small modular nuclear reactor? And how soon? So nuclear energy is something that will be very important in our future. In terms of emerging technologies, we have a lot going on with regards to fusion energy, and how you couple fusion and nuclear power with renewables coming onto the grid at the same time. The integration of smart grid technologies and AI will certainly help us with that.
More on this Topic: Crunching Numbers, Sustainably
On the demand side, DOE laboratories have two of the most powerful exascale computers in the world. One of those is 200 times more efficient than any other exascale computer, and it’s more efficient because we’ve been working on it for a long time since we knew that this would take a tremendous amount of power from the grid.
Did You Renew? ASME Membership Can Advance Your Career
ASME: A lot of recent engineering school graduates have gone into finance and may soon be going into AI. How do we make sure the most talented, most thoughtful people are solving the energy transition challenges?
Richmond: If there’s one thing that keeps me up late at night, it’s how we’re going to build that workforce. The power sector needs more than graduates with B.S. or Ph.Ds. They need community college students and people that are in the trades to come over. So, let’s make sure we are thinking broadly about talent.
And then you ask someone who might be going into finance, “What are you doing to save the planet?” When I talk to young people, I ask them “Why not go into chemistry or physics?” They are great, great areas. Make a new kind of molecule and save the planet.
We in STEM fields really need to be more proactive in bragging about what we do. Climate change is the most important thing this world and this nation has ever faced. When I talk to young people about this—and by young, I mean under 40, maybe under 50—they are really thinking about what their lives mean, and what they can do.
Jeffrey Winters is editor in chief of Mechanical Engineering magazine.
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