Essay by Eric Worrall
“… Achieving a genuine and sustained global-scale energy transition … requires greater emphasis on reducing energy demand …”
Broadcast: News items
Energy-hungry AI and air conditioning risk wiping out climate gains made by renewables
By: Vicky Welstead
Last updated: Friday, 13 February 2026The rapid expansion of renewable energy is being used to meet rising electricity demands rather than displacing fossil fuels, according to new research by the University of Sussex.
Energy-hungry artificial intelligence data centres and greater use of air conditioning in a fast-heating world are among several factors threatening to undermine the climate gains made by renewables, according to the paper published in Nature Reviews Clean Technology.
Researchers from Sussex and Vienna’s Central European University found record growth in solar power in the first three quarters of 2025. For the first time this rise in clean electricity outpaced global growth in electricity demand, yet the researchers warn this fragile balance is now starting to tip back the other way.
Since the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global temperature rises, global wind and solar power generation has grown rapidly, yet emissions from the power sector have continued to rise as electricity demand has grown even faster. Analysis of global energy demand in 2025 found artificial-intelligence data centres are a major driver, alongside increased use of air conditioning as people struggle to cope with hotter temperatures.
Electrification of transport and consumer trends such as bigger cars were also highlighted as culprits. The report found these pressures are eroding efficiency gains made by individual countries. Projections to 2030 warn that increases in electricity use could consume most new renewable supply unless proactive measures are taken to limit demand.
“Renewables are scaling at record speed, but demand growth from data centres, cooling and transport is running just as fast,” said Professor Felix Creutzig, Bennett Institute Chair at the University of Sussex. “We need policies that curb unnecessary energy use and shape demand so that clean electricity can have the intended effect of cutting emissions from fossil fuels.”
The report cites evidence from the European Union and major cities showing that demand reduction isn’t necessarily a matter of human hardship, and can coincide with economic growth and wellbeing for citizens through efficiency measures and urban planning that reduces dependence on cars. The authors conclude that aligning renewables with demand-side strategies is now central to meaningful decarbonisation.
The University of Sussex’s Bennett Institute for Innovation and Policy is hosting its annual Research Symposium on 19 February. Under the theme Zero Hour for Energy Policy: Researching the Race to Net Zero delegates will explore pressing issues that underpin the acceleration of climate change policies. Attendance is free, but registration is required.
Source: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/70094
The abstract of the study;
Energy demand and decarbonization in 2025 and beyond
Nature Reviews Clean Technology volume 2, pages 4–5 (2026) Cite this article
Rapid expansion of renewables has thus far mostly covered fast-growing energy demand rather than displacing fossil fuels. New demand drivers such as data centres and cooling could reverse declining demand trends from 2024–2025 without further effort.
Key advances
Read more (paywalled): https://www.nature.com/articles/s44359-025-00139-w#Ack1
- Record expansion in solar power in the first three-quarters of 2025 was sufficient to raise total clean electricity generation faster than demand growth for the first time.
- New loads such as artificial intelligence data centres and increasing cooling needs accelerate increasing energy demand, potentially reversing regional power demand reduction trends in 2024–2025.
- Achieving a genuine and sustained global-scale energy transition — where renewables structurally displace fossil energy — requires greater emphasis on reducing energy demand while increasing well-being.
- Without further demand-side efforts, projected additional power demand between 2025 and 2030 is expected to consume the projected rapid renewable energy expansion.
Rationing energy demand, while maintaining existing standards of living for people who already have modern comforts, would require denying people in Africa, Asia and Arabia access to the same technological comforts that we enjoy.
Or maybe they plan to take away our air conditioners.
Either way this disgusting demand for energy rationing in my opinion exposes the fiction that renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel. If Renewables actually were cheaper, there would be no need to build more fossil fuel capacity or ration access to energy. Simple economics would cause renewables to effortlessly dominate the energy investment landscape, without any need for policy intervention.
The thought of peasant scum with anything nice, like AC or cars, fills the Green Blob with dread. One must not let them get uppity!
”Giving society cheap, abundant energy would be the
equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun.”
Paul Ehrlich,
Professor of Population Studies,
Author: “Population Bomb”, “Ecoscience”
Neither AI Nor A/C are affecting renewable dominance. It’s that pesky nagging little Reliability issue
High temperatures are not the problem, either.
The highest global temperatures occur in the northern hemisphere’s winter, where most air conditioners are located.
The current global temperatures have cooled by about 0.5C since the temperature high point in February, 2024, so even less need for air conditioning.
The thing with reliable FF generation is simple. If you need more generation for the evening peak you can always add more fuel. With Wind and Solar you only get fuel when mature provides it and you can’t simply add more if nature didn’t supply enough… especially in the case of Solar which CAN’T generate for Evening Peak or Morning Peak.
Either you forgot the sarc. tag or your meds…which is it?
No, No, you don’t understand. The idea is to fix a problem with another catastrophe claim. The issue is that in the real world as measured by death certificates, deaths related to cold exceed deaths related to heat by an order of magnitude. Wipe out air conditioning, and surely those numbers will start to balance out, and maybe heat will even win eventually, especially among tubby elderly developed-country people who probably vote Republican anyway! Win-win, problem solved. {\irony off}
And this is the real reason the eco-colonialists don’t want Africa to have reliable electricity
The university of Sussex? Oh dear, a tawdry establishment if ever there was one:
The Office for Students (OfS) has fined the University of Sussex £585,000 after an investigation found the university’s governing documents failed to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom, as well as failings in the university’s management and governance processes. – OfS
I’d take anything they say with a huge pinch of salt.
They live in a fast-heating world.
Thus causing their brains to overheat and missfire.
“Energy-hungry AI and air conditioning risk wiping out climate gains made by renewables”
Well, they claim wind and solar energy are so cheap- it’s almost free- so what are they worrying about? Just build a lot more of that almost free “clean and green” energy supply. Problem solved. /s
Or just reduce demand to zero. Pretty much the same consequence.
It’s very complicated, but I’ll try to explain simply how energy production and use can be increased indefinitely while CO2 emissions are reduced, and at lower cost than wind and solar renewables. Like I said, it’s very complicated, but I’ll explain it in as few words as I can:
Nuclear.
“climate gains” that is just priceless.
The government controls the weather.
And taxes are apparently the control knob.
I wonder how those ” climate gains ” are being measured?
But I guess they don’t even have names for the units.
First you gotta stand on your head, close your eyes, clap your hands and say “I Do Believe in Renewables”. Then open just your left eye and squint really hard as you look at the charts and graphs.
;They just haven’t specified the climate gains yet. 😉
“AI and Air Conditioning are Threatening Renewable Energy Dominance”
That made me chuckle as well. How can a thing “dominate” when it can’t even keep up?
Once people have access to creature comforts, like central heating and air-conditioning, on-demand transportation, electric appliances, etc., they are unlikely to go back to a more primitive way of life. What exactly did the central planners of this debacle think would happen and continue to happen?
Once people have access to creature comforts like food, clothing and a roof over their head, they are unlikely to want to return to a life of starvation, nakedness and exposure to the elements. Gee. Arranging society to make progress possible is not a sin. This brainless opposition to health and comfort is doomed, as a philosophy.
Scientific progress will continue indefinitely and “the energy question” will be resoundingly solved. That’s obvious. Once that has happened, and energy is limitless, perhaps humans will be forced to look inward and develop their social and spiritual capacities.
An alternative view is that these capacities must be developed first, before being capable of such a material advance. Social, spiritual and material advancements should develop together, lest a calamity of foolishness befall us. As a first test of willingness to progress beyond the 20th Century, it is useful to recognize that to have a global civilization without clinging to 19th Century ideas about the supremacy of “countries” as the largest unit of cooperation. Ignore the current -opolies and -isms and think about what a sensible elected international administration would look like. It would go far beyond creature comforts.
One world government carries with it the unacceptable risk of a one world Mao, a one world Stalin, a one world Hitler…
… Guterres, von der Leyen, Gore, …
On a historical basis, there is no such risk.
It’s a certainty.
If not immediately, then eventually, such an authority will (d)evolve into exactly that.
One thing is for sure, they want to get rid of Bovines so burning Cow Dung is out of the question
Next thing they will be telling us that we can only have lights when the sun is shining,
Or air conditioning when the wind is blowing.
But here in the Yuk, we are obliged to replace gas boilers with air-conditioners… well heat pumps which are air-conditioners working in reverse.
A newly designed heat pump will have a handle to be cranked clockwise for heat and counterclockwise for cool. Ya don’t need no stinking electricity to compress gas. 🙂
Just reduce “demand” to zero and think of all the benefits.
Sussex and Vienna’s Central European University are certainly well behind the curve on climate change/renewables. Global elites have switched to supporting energy hungry AI because it provides a better avenue to achieve world govt and totalatarian oppression than the fear of climate catastrophe. In other words, renewables do not consistently produce enough energy to operate and cool data centers……….
“The report cites evidence from the European Union and major cities showing that demand reduction isn’t necessarily a matter of human hardship, and can coincide with economic growth and wellbeing for citizens through efficiency measures and urban planning that reduces dependence on cars.”
Yeah, that’s the ticket! Let’s push harder and faster against the immutable law of diminishing returns! Don’t get me wrong – some efficiency measures are worth it. Others are already past the point where it makes any sense at all.
“The authors conclude that aligning renewables with demand-side strategies is now central to meaningful decarbonisation.”
Decarbonization is a problem itself. I propose recarbonization here in NY to stop putting unnecessary stress on the electric grid during cold weather. Resume natural gas development in the Marcellus and Utica formations, and make sure there is plenty to go around to supply existing and new gas-fired heating systems and industrial processes. Promote new CCGT power plants.
But here we are, pushing electrification of homes and buildings with heat pump systems to replace perfectly good natural gas. It won’t end well.
Thank you for listening.
A recarbonize campaign. In NY. Yes!!! Go for it. This could be fun.
FREE THE CARBON!
I already have the stickers printed.
I breathlessly await the move by U Sux to lead by example! I tremble at the mere thought of the stampede to remove ALL on campus AC units (especially admin, and student and faculty housing buildings) and disconnect entirely from the grid! Think of the millions of pounds they will save by abandoning FFs and relying entirely on free wind and solar!
I’m sure the perpetrators, oops, I meant authors, of this paper will also lead the charge by throwing out all their personal effects that used FFs in their manufacturing. I’ll hold my breath while I wait!
“…and greater use of air conditioning in a fast-heating world …”
The bullshit never stops
Climate Alarmists live in a “hotter and hotter and hotter” world.
They have been brainwashed to believe that the temperatures only go in one direction.
They don’t know weather history, and the cyclical nature of the Earth’s climate.
Look at the data on the history of energy sources. New sources have never displaced old sources but just added a new slice to an ever- growing pie. Why would anyone expect “renewables “ to be any different?
If you stop believing in the fairies at the bottom of the garden they will all die.
They miss the elephant in the room. Winter home heating and the use of lighting at night are huge obstacles to a Net Zero future. Homes should only be heated in the summer and lighting only used in the daytime. Or just ban both.
What’s wrong with going to bed at 5 o’clock?
So, is a bad AI image of many identical AC units (most of them not even actually in the windows) a threat to renewable energy dominance?
I read that AI will bring energy consumption due to informatics up to 10% of the total !
About air conditioning, the use of Heat Pumps is already reducing energy need by a factor of 5+ (i.e. less than 20%), in addition to allow the use of the same equipment for both heating or cooling, so making (home al least) heating by other sources obsolete !!!
Heat pumps are electrical appliances. A facility with a heat pump in cool/cold regions should also have a source of emergency heat that can perform as long as the maximum expected outage. Maybe 2 weeks is enough? It is a bit of a guess. A modern catalytic burner wood stove is a natural fit, or propane. Living spaces, including houses, need to be designed accordingly for efficiency and reduce danger.
Once someone has a reliable system, why ever turn on the unreliable one?
I don’t know how things work on their planet, but on this one, it usually takes more energy to increase well-being, not less. The corollary to that would be that the only way to reduce energy use would be some combination of spending more and a lowered standard of living. Since hardly anyone is going to do that on their own, this would require government coercion of some sort. Carbon taxes would be one way, so only well-off people could afford an AC, for example. Yeah, that’s fair.
Deluded people paid to be deluded. They should learn a little thermo.
Story tip. Kaliforni-UK
Donald Trump has shared a few delicate thoughts on Ed Miliband’s net zero deal with California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump says
“The UK’s got enough trouble without getting involved with Gavin Newscum… Gavin is a loser. Everything he’s touched turns to garbage. His state has gone to hell, and his environmental work is a disaster… It is inappropriate for [the UK] to be dealing with him.” – Guido
https://order-order.com/2026/02/16/trump-blasts-milibands-inappropriate-net-zero-deal-with-california/
That’s the first I’ve heard of it.
That’s the first I heard of it, too.
Miliband should hold his tongue, otherwise Trump will really tell him what he thinks of the UK’s Net Zero plans.
If you bash Trump, expect to have him bash you back.
Basically they are saying renewables can’t keep up with advancing technology.
Yet another gaggle of academics embarrassing the academic community. How long will academia put up with this nonsense? However this is good news. They have come right out and said wind and solar can’t support a modern society even with the unprecedented growth of wind and solar. They forget to mention that without government money and mandates that growth would have been impossible or that coal generation is also being built. They have proven that wind and solar aren’t the answer to anything and all with a straight face. At some point honest academics need to put an end to this nonsense. You are the ones being damaged not them, they have nothing left to damage.
How long will academia put up with this nonsense?
Right up until the pay cheques stop.
They must smell the end.
“… Achieving a genuine and sustained global-scale energy transition … requires greater emphasis on reducing energy demand …”
Too late. Elon’s on it …
“Elon Musk believes the best way to solve the difficulties of building AI data centers on earth is to move them into outer space. His merger this week of his rocket company SpaceX with his artificial intelligence company xAI could help get them there.
And he isn’t the only one thinking that way.
“The only logical solution…is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space. I mean space is called ‘space’ for a reason,’” Musk wrote Monday when announcing the merger.
Space offers better access to solar energy, and the environment also keeps the tech cool and bypasses the need for land.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/04/business/elon-musk-orbiting-ai-data-center-plans
Problems solved.
Yeah. The answer is a moon sized tech centre called a death star.
I am troubled by your lack of faith!
Solar panels connected to a superconducting space elevator cable?
Time keeps on slipping into the future. Time keeps on slipping into the future. Just like Marx and Malthus, they keep being surprised that: The world keeps on slipping into the future.
Are we quite sure this news item wasn’t generated by AI in an air conditioned room?
I know it takes a really intelligent mind to believe something really stupid but to me this is a whole new level.
If I am wrong, my response to the author is “you first”.
Hmmm.
The Australian government wants us to turn the air conditioning on flat out in the middle of the day because excess rooftop solar power is destabilising the grid.
Now
“We need policies that curb unnecessary energy use and shape demand.” Unnecessary energy use? You mean like The University of Sussex’s Bennett Institute for Innovation and Policy hosing its annual Research Symposium, instead of its being virtual online? There’s the problem. Everyone can rationalize their own energy use. It’s always the other guy who must cut back. Time for Plan B: everyone adapt to climate changes just as we always have.