Agencies
With its focus on innovative products and cutting-edge technology, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has not historically paid much attention to energy companies.
But there were signs of a shift at this year’s Las Vegas event, as the tech sector begins to confront its substantial energy needs, which are certain to grow as cloud computing and artificial intelligence advance.
"If you’d asked me to do CES five years ago, I wouldn’t necessarily have seen the point,” said Sebastien Fiedorow, chief executive of the French start-up Aerleum, which manufactures synthetic fuel from carbon dioxide (C02).
"But we are in a very different CES than five years ago,” he told AFP, adding that even if energy companies remain "on the fringes” of CES, "we’re here.” "It’s a good first opportunity,” he added.
Data centers accounted for 4.4 percent of US electricity needs in 2023, a figure that is likely to rise to 12 percent by 2028, according to the US Department of Energy.
Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes CES, said energy transition was intended to be "a big focus” of this year’s show.
"It’s something we’ve talked about for awhile,” he added, stressing that the tech sector needs "innovative solutions” to ensure it has the power it requires moving forward.
Among the companies pitching such innovation at CES, which wrapped up on Friday, was the Dutch firm LV Energy, which generates electricity from sound and vibrations.
General director Satish Jawalapersad said the company’s presence at the show was noteworthy. "The fact that we’re here with the CES does say something, definitely,” he told AFP. But LV Energy didn’t mention artificial intelligence in its presentation, which he said likely suppressed interest, with AI being "the magic word,” at CES.