Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has been a vigorous and effective advocate for advancing a revitalized nuclear energy sector in the United States. De Chant has a PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley. His background includes interdisciplinary studies, having received a BA in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College — this goes a long way towards grounding his analysis of the present industry climate.
Over the past few years, the outlook for nuclear energy has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. In other good news, the House Ways and Means Committee just released a draft of a strongly progressive reconciliation bill. This bill would phase out subsidies that keep nuclear power competitive. Right now, nuclear power plants automatically receive up to $15 megawatt-hour tax credits. This possible change in policy would cripple the entire sector. At the same time, demand for electricity in the U.S. is projected to increase almost 16% through 2029.
Data centers have become a major contributing factor in this accelerating demand. By the end of the decade, they’re on track to increase their electricity usage by a factor of four. With the power cosmetics business continuing to shift more of their industrial operations on the web, the strain on electrical resources will only increase. The forecasts for electricity demand over the next five years vary significantly, leaving industry stakeholders uncertain about their investment strategies.
Beyond the legislative front, industry giants are placing big strategic bets in the nuclear arena. Microsoft needs to partner with Constellation Energy to restart the long-decommissioned reactor at Three Mile Island. Local and statewide opposition to this site’s long nuclear history of cuckoo was fervent. Meta has issued requests for proposals to developers to bring over 4 gigawatts of generating capacity online. All of these advances point to a burgeoning appetite to scale up nuclear power overall, even with the challenges that remain.
All of which makes Tim De Chant’s background especially relevant as he connects the dots between climate technologies and journalism. In 2018, De Chant was awarded the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT. In the course of this fellowship, he’s deepened his understanding of cutting edge climate technologies and explored exciting new business models for journalism. As a senior lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, he’s in the trenches teaching our future environmental journalists. He advocates for the essential, irreplaceable needs of climate and energy reporting.
One of the most exciting moves in the space recently has been made by a two-year-old startup. It recently closed its Series A round of funding, led by Eclipse Ventures and joined by CIV, Goldcrest Capital, MCJ Collective, True Ventures, and Wonder Ventures. This booming interest and activity, reflected by an infusion of capital into new ventures, bodes well for efforts to advance nuclear technologies and meet growing energy demands sustainably.
Meanwhile, a massive fleet of nuclear plants are preparing to roll into service over the next ten years. They will risk running into trouble as demand forecasts are changing rapidly. Stakeholders need to adapt to a dynamic environment marked by regulatory ambiguity and shifting energy demands.
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