Ask MIT Climate

Author: MIT Climate Project

Get smart quickly on climate change. This award-winning MIT podcast breaks down the science, technologies, and policies behind climate change, how its impacting us, and what our society can do about it. Each quick episode gives you the what, why, and how on climate change from real scientists to help us all make informed decisions for our future.
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Data centers and the race to power AI (part 2)
Episode 11
Thursday, 8 October, 2026

In the first half of our two-parter on data centers and the U.S. energy system, we dug into the challenges that these huge, concentrated electricity users pose for communities and power grids. In this second installment, Prof. Costa Samaras of Carnegie Mellon University and Dr. Vijay Gadepally of MIT return to talk through some of the options on the table for responding to these challenges. And we explore how our choices fit into the bigger picture of tackling climate change, as data centers’ growing electricity needs meet those of electric vehicles, heat pumps and clean manufacturing.For a deeper dive and additional resources related to this episode, visit: https://climate.mit.edu/podcasts/e11-data-centers-and-race-power-ai-part-2.For more episodes of Ask MIT Climate, check out askmitclimate.org. Plus, find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for outtakes, bonus content, and more climate knowledge from MIT. As always, we love hearing from our listeners; email us at askmitclimate@mit.edu.