Season 3 Trailer | The Data Center Next Door
From Electric Futures by University of Southern California
March 30, 2026 · 2 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the developments in California's Imperial Valley regarding lithium extraction and the rise of data centers amidst community concerns.
Season three of Electric Futures , the USC energy transition podcast, takes listeners back to California’s Imperial Valley, a region explored throughout season one in connection with the county’s potential for lithium extraction. A lot has changed since then. Plans for lithium extraction are stalled due to lawsuits and a new set of developers has come to town: hyperscalers. Host Charles Zukoski, the Robert E. Vivian Professor in Energy Resources and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering, has been tracking the news since last summer, when word began to circulate that one of the largest data centers in the country might tap into the region’s rich geothermal resources. Demand for data centers—the physical embodiment of AI —is growing so rapidly that their global electricity consumption will more than double by 2030. But pushback from communities is also growing. Concerned residents worry about rising electricity bills, environmental degradation, and AI itself. Does the benefit of data center development in places like Imperial Valley outweigh the costs?
People in this episode
Host: Charles Zukoski
Topics covered
- energy transition
- data centers
- lithium extraction
- geothermal resources
- community concerns
- AI impact
Keywords
- energy transition
- data centers
- lithium extraction
- geothermal resources
- AI
- community concerns
- electricity consumption
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Southern California
Products: lithium, data centers, AI
Places: California, Imperial Valley
More episodes of Electric Futures
- Episodio 8: El Centro de Datos en la Cuadra · May 8, 2026 · 26 min
- Episode 7: Electric Futures Live! Everything You Need to Know About Data Centers · April 23, 2026 · 52 min
- The Data Center Next Door | Episode 6: The AI Data Center Pushback · April 15, 2026 · 1h 1m
- The Data Center Next Door | Episode 5: Will AI Bring Jobs to the Valley? · April 15, 2026 · 43 min
- The Data Center Next Door | Episode 4: Not in My Backyard · April 15, 2026 · 1h 3m
- The Data Center Next Door | Episode 3: Water is for Fighting Over · April 15, 2026 · 45 min
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