Federal Adviser Says Data Centres ‘Provide Markets’ for Gas | The Tyee

This isn't an "A Guy Said a Thing" article:

A list of proposed data centres, which provide the computing power for AI, gives clarity on what kind of energy resources the federal government hopes to grow. Massive data centres proposed for Alberta, including the Kevin O’Leary-backed Wonder Valley project, will have their energy needs “supplied by natural gas,” the Privy Council document reads.

The Privy Council document lists about 15.5 gigawatts of new gas capacity planned for data centres in Canada, although it notes that “it will not be possible for Alberta to connect all data centre projects in the short term” to the electric grid. Carney’s new AI strategy puts forward a lower estimate, suggesting that Canadian projects will require 5.5 gigawatts of power.

If the high-end scenario of 15.5 gigawatts materializes, it could cause an increase of somewhere between 33 and 63 megatonnes of annual greenhouse gas emissions, Joshi calculates, “effectively undoing the past 15 years of emissions reductions in Canada.”

It didn't have to be this way:

Carney could have insisted as part of his AI strategy that data centres be powered by renewable energy, said Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada. But Stewart said the document shows that the federal government views AI as part of a fossil fuel growth strategy.

“This makes it clear that one of the main reasons that the Carney government wants to expand AI data centres is that so Big Oil can sell more gas,” Stewart said.