Who Actually Pays for AI's Environmental Cost?

Microsoft announced they'll cover the environmental costs of their AI data centers - electricity overages, water usage, community impact.

But here's the tension: AI energy consumption is projected to quadruple by 2030, consuming one in eight kilowatt hours in the U.S. Communities have already blocked billion-dollar data center projects over water and electricity fears. Is this Microsoft accountability, or damage control?

Charlie Harger from "Seattle's Morning News" on KIRO Radio joins us with mor eon why this matters now:

• Why AI data centers are losing community support and costing billions in cancelled projects
• What it actually takes to power AI—and why current infrastructure can't handle it
• How Microsoft's commitment differs from silence from OpenAI, Google, and Chinese AI companies
• Whether small modular reactors and fusion energy can solve the problem or just delay it
• Why this is ultimately a West vs. East geopolitical race with environmental consequences
• What happens when five of the world's most valuable companies all need the same scarce resources

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