Could desalination make them irrelevant?
Cleaning up a coal-fired mess
China’s green-industrial complex makes deep decarbonisation possible, but far from inevitable
Data center guzzled 30 million gallons of water and nobody noticed for months
Can AI save us from the AI industry’s endless thirst for water? Outlook not so good.
China Opens World’s First Wind-Powered Underwater Data Center
With an initial capacity of 24 megawatts, the innovative data center uses seawater as a natural cooling system.
You’re Thinking About AI and Water All Wrong
Fears about AI data centers’ water use have exploded. Experts say the reality is far more complicated than people think.
Switzerland bolted 5,000 solar panels onto a dam wall 8,000 feet up in the freezing Alps where everyone said solar made no sense, and the plant now makes three times more winter power than any farm down in the valleys
High in the Swiss Alps, on a concrete dam wall more than 8,000 feet above the sea, someone bolted thousands of solar panels to a place almost no one thought
The world’s renewable-energy superpower
China’s moment for climate leadership has arrived
Water Use Isn’t a Data Center Problem, It’s an AI Problem
Critics of the AI build-out are picking the wrong fight when they attack data centers for their water use. But they are right when they say the digital economy is getting thirstier and the tech industry should answer for it.The whole AI supply chain is water intensive, and reducing use in one ...
China’s Shift to Clean Energy Is Saving the Paris Climate Accord
Beijing’s massive manufacturing investments have driven the costs of clean energy down.
Who’s Afraid of Chinese Models? (Stratechery Article 7-20-2026)
Beaver dam
A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers; it creates a pond which protects against predators and holds food during winter. These structures modify the natural environment in such a way that the overall ecosystem builds upon the change, making beavers a keystone species and ecosystem engineers. They build prolifically at night, carrying mud with their forepaws and timber between their teeth.
AI Aqueducts: Speed. Confidence. And Contaminants.
The AI Pipeline Has No Way to Judge the Science It Uses
The geopolitical fight to come over green energy
The struggle for sustainable energy will soon put China, the US and Europe on a geopolitical collision course. But moving away from fossil fuels is a Herculean task, and a greener politics will not transcend tragedy.
After recent tests, China appears likely to beat the United States back to the Moon
An expert explains why this will be enormously bad for the United States.
On the relevance of post-growth in China
Post-growth refers to approaches prioritizing human well-being and ecological sustainability over gross domestic product expansion as a primary objective of economic policy. While it is widely discussed in the global north and generally targeted at high-income countries, its relevance to China remains underexplored and largely absent from academic discourse. This Perspective discusses China’s position in a possible global post-growth transition and explores convergence and difference between post-growth principles and development priorities in China. We consider how China’s concepts of ‘high-quality development’ and ‘ecological civilization’ could integrate post-growth principles, and vice versa. Understanding China’s context is crucial for a collaborative, effective approach to sustainability and global equity.
