During a House Oversight Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) questioned Mark P. Mills, the Executive Director at the National Center for Energy Analytics, about modernizing the energy grid.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Higgins.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mills, can you clarify for America, what is the consumption of energy that we're talking about here as Americans try to grasp?
00:20You know, what's the difference between a data center requirement and what kind of energy does AI draw?
00:30Why is that different from a business or home?
00:32Will you explain what we're talking about regarding the needs for the consumption of energy from our,
00:43clearly it has to come from our existing grid or the grid that we envision modernizing it in the near future
00:49if we're to participate in this global competition to lead the emergence of AI and data technology?
01:02So could you clarify for America about how much energy is required for this?
01:08Well, it has surprised a lot of people, Mr. Congressman, as you know.
01:12The computer age began, I was part of the beginning of the computer age as a young man designing and manufacturing microprocessors,
01:19and very few people thought about computers in city-size power consumption terms at that time.
01:27There were a handful of forecasters who expected that to happen.
01:30I'll say again, it happened because we make computing so efficient.
01:34The goal of making computers faster is you have to make them more efficient.
01:38This is sort of the central requirement.
01:40But what it means in simple terms is, well, everything we do, if you, you know, we're broadcasting this hearing live to the Internet,
01:50and, of course, that consumes energy.
01:51It's just hidden energy.
01:53And it consumes roughly as much as the people that are watching it, each person.
01:57Their energy share of watching this hearing online is roughly equal to if they took a bus ride 10 or 20 miles.
02:05But may I ask if I can interject while a gentleman's explaining, Americans are watching something else if they're not watching this.
02:12That's true.
02:12And the lights are on in this place, whether anyone's in this room or not.
02:16It's all using energy.
02:17The energy, you know, the cameras are plugged in.
02:19So regarding data centers, there's a failure to grasp.
02:27It took me a while to grasp.
02:28And I'm asking you to clarify for America, why did the Envision data centers and AI technology, why is the consumption of energy so massive?
02:41Because the quantity of information process is even more massive.
02:45So a single data center now typically uses more power than a steel mill.
02:49We are building them by the hundreds.
02:51We're not building hundreds of steel mills, although it would be nice if we built a few dozen.
02:55So the magnitude of information processing that goes on, and we measure this in bytes, which has no meaning.
03:03It's a term that is exotic.
03:06But we used to be amazed at a gigabyte and, you know, megabytes.
03:10These are measured in numbers that are literally astronomical.
03:13The quantity of data being processed and will be processed to do everything that we've heard from our witnesses, my colleagues.
03:20It will keep expanding, whether it's medical care or entertainment.
03:23Okay, so our existing grid cannot – if we were to win the race, we don't have the grid to carry the victory, do we?
03:32That's correct.
03:33That's correct, sir.
03:33That's right.
03:34So modernization of the grid across the country is – would you say that's a paramount consideration?
03:43Modernization of the grid and the opportunity for private players to produce power.
03:48It doesn't have to be on grid.
03:50Yes, sir.
03:50Both.
03:51Roger that.
03:51Okay, it was brought up earlier regarding the need for fresh water for cooling.
03:57Can you comment on that from an energy perspective?
04:00Cooling is a challenge.
04:01These are very hot processors.
04:02The surface of each chip is hotter than the surface of the sun.
04:06It's a crazy number.
04:07It's hard to cool them.
04:08It takes a lot of water.
04:09I think what you'll see increasingly is data centers cited where there aren't water challenges and there are not transmission challenges.
04:17Because commonly, some of the least expensive energy sources are where you also have some of the least water.
04:24That's a challenge.
04:25That's correct.
04:25Is that correct?
04:26That is correct.
04:27These are serious challenges.
04:29In my remaining half a minute, Mr. Levi, would you please address the supply chains?
04:37We have concerns regarding materials and components necessary for us to engage in this competition that we intend to win.
04:48Thank you, Representative Higgins.
04:52I very much appreciate the question.
04:54And yes, we have some very significant supply chain constraints, much of which is really electrical components.
05:00And it's a matter of finding transformers, switch gears.
05:03Should we be building those components in America, sir?
05:05We should, and as an industry, we're leaning into supply chain to try and source as much here as we can, yes, sir.
05:11Roger that.
05:11Thank you, sir, Mr. Chairman.
05:13My time has expired, I yield.