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Can US afford cost of clean-energy protectionism in race for AI capabilities?_我的网站

A |     Electrek 推测，特斯拉送出了大约 80 辆电动跑车，并给予了优质客户更大的折扣力度。

B | 可惜后来出于成本的考量，公司 CEO 伊隆·马斯克暂时搁置了这一计划。    

    Illustration: Liu Xiangya/GT
Recent media reports have questioned whether a natural gas plant built to power an Amazon data center project in Texas could become the largest climate polluter in the US. The controversy, whatever the eventual outcome, offers a reality check for America's artificial intelligence (AI) drive. 
It exposes a growing contradiction: The US is racing to expand its AI capabilities, yet its protectionist trade policies are making it harder and more costly to access some of the clean-energy technologies needed to sustain that expansion. This raises a broader question: Can an energy-intensive AI race afford the costs of renewable energy protectionism?
The US is entering a new era of rising electricity demand. Data centers, the backbone of the AI economy, are emerging as one of the fastest-growing sources of power consumption. Much of that demand is still being met by fossil fuels: The International Energy Agency reports that natural gas supplies more than 40 percent of the electricity used by data centers in the US, making it their largest source of power. 
So, it's not surprising that the expansion of data centers has raised concerns over their environmental impact and the pressure they could place on local power systems and electricity bills. A Gallup survey conducted in March found that seven in 10 Americans opposed the construction of AI data centers in their local area, including 48 percent who strongly opposed such projects.
The findings point to a broader challenge for the US: The race to develop AI is increasingly becoming a race to meet growing energy needs. Addressing this challenge will require more than advances in computing technology; it will also depend on an energy system capable of delivering large amounts of reliable, affordable and cleaner power. That, in turn, will require faster development and broader deployment of clean-energy technologies, from solar power to energy storage.
Yet in the clean-energy sector, the US has increasingly relied on protectionist trade measures that limit access to cost-competitive products from global markets. The country has placed greater emphasis on expanding domestic manufacturing capacity, but rebuilding entire clean-energy supply chains at home is a costly and time-consuming process. Even if expanded domestic production is achieved, it is likely to come at a higher cost, making the deployment of renewable technologies more expensive and potentially slower.
The solar industry offers a clear illustration of this policy direction. The US has continued to expand trade barriers in the sector. Reuters reported that the US government announced on Thursday a series of price floors and a 15 percent tariff on products made from polysilicon, a raw material used in solar panels.
The challenge lies in the limited scale of the US polysilicon industry. Reuters reported that the country has two polysilicon factories. Against this backdrop, relying on domestic polysilicon production while restricting access to imports runs counter to the goal of expanding solar power in the US. The country risks creating barriers that ultimately constrain its own access to the global supply chains needed for growth.
The pressing issue for the US is the speed at which new power demand is emerging. The expansion of data centers is creating electricity needs that cannot wait for domestic clean-energy capacity to develop gradually. Global supply chains can provide the scale and speed required in the near term. By narrowing access to these sources, the US risks turning clean-energy policy into a drag on the infrastructure needed for its AI race.
The US has placed AI high on its economic and technological agenda. The outcome of this race will matter greatly, as financial markets are also watching whether America can turn its AI efforts into commercial success.
This leaves the US with a difficult choice: Can it afford the cost of clean-energy protectionism while racing to build AI infrastructure? The answer may be no. Trade barriers that limit access to competitive renewable technologies could ultimately become a constraint on the AI expansion that Washington is seeking to accelerate.
The author is a reporter with the Global Times. [email protected]

。不过特斯拉也没有直接取消推荐奖励，而是先将福利缩水到了 1000 英里的免费超充额度（虽然后来也没了）。而过去两年里唯一剩下的奖励，就是该公司的太阳能产品了。有趣的是，最近有消息称，特斯拉正在酝酿推出新版推荐奖励计划。其实早在去年，Electrek 就提过一嘴。据知情人士透露，特斯拉计划消除（或减少）常见的社交媒体或邮件分享的推荐连接，转而采用基于应用程序的面对面推荐形式。@Teslascope 在周三的一条推文爆料中称，特斯拉推荐奖励项目或很快卷土重来。由最新版本的移动 App 更新可知，其中包含了一些新的文本字符串，且它们与超充里程、官方商品、甚至汽车配件等推荐奖励有关。通常情况下，车企会在需要提振销量的时候，祭出此类促销奖励。但对于特斯拉来说，其本就已经实现了相当瞩目的创纪录销量。至于真相究竟如何，还请耐心等待晚些时候的电话财报披露。

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