104

THE GRID

SECTION 13

ISSUE 001

PROJECTIONpolicy6-12mconfidence / high

Disclose Compute’s Local Footprint

Projection: permits and major AI contracts will require location-specific disclosure of electricity, water, backup generation, hardware turnover, and community impact. Reporting should distinguish projected from measured use and allocate responsibility across model developers, cloud providers, and downstream customers.

Why this idea is here

What the evidence establishes.

IEA documents the energy–AI nexus and rapid capacity growth; the UN panel includes environmental and systems impacts in global governance.

Source ledger

Read the sources.

  1. S01
    Key Questions on Energy and AI

    IEA report / dated 2026-04 / retrieved 2026-07-09

  2. S02
    Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI

    UN scientific report / published 2026-07-01 / retrieved 2026-07-09

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