Tech giants and the problem of energy supply

Amazon and Google have decided to secure the electricity they need by turning to nuclear power. The two giants will use mini-reactors created especially for them. Alessandra Motz, a researcher at the Faculty of Economics at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), talked about the issue on Rete Uno (RSI) radio news.

As Alessandra Motz, a researcher at the Institute for Economic Research (IRE), explained, these nuclear reactors will ensure significant energy production. According to contracts between Google and the supplier, the tech giant has booked 500 megawatts of generation capacity. Considering that the nuclear generation capacity of the whole of Switzerland amounts to 3,000 megawatts, this is a considerable amount, as it is equal to 1/6 of Switzerland's.

The choice of Amazon and Google, moreover, is not an isolated case: "In recent years, large consumers are increasingly bypassing intermediaries and forming direct agreements with producers," explained Alessandra Motz. Today, we are witnessing an increase in direct long-term agreements between production sites and large consumers, which differs from the past practice of large consumers making agreements with sales companies.

When questioned about the environmental impact of these energy-intensive companies, the USI researcher explained how difficult it is to determine with certainty how much they actually pollute. "There are two types of pollution: office pollution, which occurs during the normal course of work, and pollution caused by travelling and purchasing materials. The latter is more difficult to quantify because it's not easy to trace the impact along the entire production chain." Alessandra Motz also added that making these companies greener is possible. "When it comes to large companies like Google, the challenge of decarbonisation is not difficult: they need a lot of energy but, since they mainly consume electricity and not fossil fuels directly, they already have the option of obtaining it in a more environmentally friendly form, for example by exploiting renewable sources or, in this case, nuclear energy, which presents some risks but generates lower climate-changing emissions than fossil fuels. The large technology and IT industries are at the forefront of the energy transition and are active on two fronts: the first is the reduction of the environmental impact of their activities, the second is the integration of IT skills into aspects of energy production and consumption".

The full episode is available at the following link (interview with Alessandra Motz from minute 18:26, Italian only).