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1 October 2024

AI Additionality Is the Wrong Solution to a Real Problem

Cy McGeady

The United States needs to think seriously about the energy demands of AI. On this point, Brian Deese and Lisa Hansmann, who’ve penned an interesting proposal on regulating the energy use of AI, are exactly right. Electric demand growth is a paradigm shift for the industry and a strategic scale challenge for the nation. Whatever the outcome of November’s elections, the incoming administration and Congress should make addressing electricity demand growth a top priority.

Despite agreement on this basic premise, the approach articulated by Deese and Hansmann arguably takes the policy conversation in the wrong direction. Pursued as the lynchpin of a policy response, this approach risks introducing uncertainty and delay into the AI sector, does little to address the real challenges on the supply side, and misses the big opportunity to radically scale ambition in the electric power sector.
Additionality for AI?

Deese and Hansmann propose a “National AI Additionality Framework.” This would extend the concept of additionality—originally developed around the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)’s tax credit for low-carbon hydrogen production—onto AI data centers.


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