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Past Issues
The Ad Hoc Gist: The Rise (and Fall) of Distributed Data Centers
The opposition to big data centers transcends party loyalty and raises a new question. Where will all the compute go?
This monthβs Gist looks at one emerging answer: putting distributed data centers in underutilized commercial buildings. I argue that utilities and regulators should take action before the market gets too far ahead of them β and that developers should avoid making the same mistake twice.
The Ad Hoc Gist: Carbon Removal Hits the Brakes
Carbon removal is in another difficult cycle. Investment has slowed, policy support in the U.S. has evaporated, and big buyers like Microsoft are reevaluating their commitment.
For this month’s Gist, Ad Hocβs Max Tuttman spoke with Neil Renninger, a longtime climate-tech entrepreneur and investor to unpack the meaning of this moment. Neil co-founded Amyris and later founded Ample Carbon, which aims to convert retiring coal plants into carbon-negative power facilities, but is now pressing pause.
The Ad Hoc Gist: Google Plans to Unlock Grid Capacity. Will Regulators Let Them?
Can data centers become part of the solution to the grid constraints they’re helping create?
That’s the premise behind Google’s latest work on distributed energy resources
β from batteries and demand response to energy efficiency.
Ellen Zuckerman discusses why Google is investing in these resources, whether they can meaningfully free up grid capacity, and what regulators need to do to make these models work at scale.