
The recently announced $500 billion Stargate Project, a joint venture between OpenAI, Softbank, Oracle, and MGX, aims to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure in the United States to enhance OpenAI’s computing capabilities and secure American leadership in artificial intelligence. While this ambitious investment underscores AI’s role in shaping the future and driving innovation, it also raises pressing questions: How will we power this AI-driven future without exacerbating energy inefficiencies? Can we build data centers that are not only bigger but also smarter, greener, and more cost efficient?
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers currently consume approximately 1% to 1.5% of global electricity (Source), but this figure is projected to skyrocket to 23% by 2030 as AI adoption accelerates (Source).
AI workloads require vast amounts of energy, generating massive heat as they process and train large-scale models. Cooling these systems currently accounts for up to 40% of a data center’s energy consumption, with much of this energy lost as waste heat (source). Traditional cooling systems, which rely on energy-intensive chillers, not only consume significant electricity but also contribute to high carbon emissions. With the global energy demand expected to rise sharply, this current model is unsustainable.
Unlocking a New Energy Model: Waste Heat to Electricity
ATS is redefining data center sustainability with its breakthrough technology that converts waste heat into clean electricity, enabling a significant change in energy usage for data centers.
Instead of allowing this immense energy to dissipate unused, ATS captures it and reinvests it—reducing reliance on external power grids and lowering carbon footprints.
Here’s how the system works:
Heat-to-Electricity Conversion: ATS’ patented technology captures waste heat from high-density data centers and transforms it into electricity, creating a self-sustaining energy cycle.
Integrated Cooling Efficiency: The process of heat conversion naturally lowers temperatures, often eliminating the need for energy-intensive chillers.
Sustainability at Scale: By reinvesting heat as clean energy, ATS empowers data center operators to achieve energy neutrality without sacrificing performance.
Doug Hudson, President of ATS Energy, aptly summarized the impact: “Our solutions allow operators to harness the immense heat generated by modern AI data centers and reinvest it as clean energy. It’s not just smarter; it’s greener and more sustainable.”
Building the Future Sustainably
The future of AI depends not just on building bigger data centers but on building smarter ones. Programs like Stargate provide a unique opportunity to redefine what’s possible in data center design. By embracing technologies like ATS heat-to-electricity solutions, we can:
Reduce Energy Consumption: Lower reliance on external power grids through efficient heat recovery
Boost Cooling Efficiency: Leverage natural cooling processes to reduce operational costs and energy usage
Support Net-Zero Goals: Build infrastructure that aligns with long-term sustainability targets
The rapid growth of AI offers unprecedented opportunities—but it also demands unprecedented responsibility. As projects like Stargate push the boundaries of what’s possible in AI infrastructure, the question isn’t just how much we can build, but it also needs to be how intelligently and sustainably we can do it. ATS’ groundbreaking heat-to-electricity technology represents more than an energy solution; it’s a blueprint for the future of data centers—where efficiency, sustainability, and innovation are inseparable.
The future of AI is being written today. Let’s make sure it’s powered responsibly.