What is Ex-BP CEO Doing to Develop Sustainable Data Centres?
After dedicating more than three decades to the oil industry, Bernard Looney, the former CEO of BP, is turning his expertise towards spearheading progress in sustainable data centres.
As the newly designated chair of Prometheus Hyperscale, Bernard is deeply involved in raising a vital 1GW data centre in Evanston, Wyoming, worth US$10bn.
Why? To capitalise on the global AI boom.
“The opportunity to address these challenges is why I’ve joined Prometheus Hyperscale as chairman,” he said. “I can’t think of a more exciting challenge. How do we deliver net positive AI? How do we unleash AI to propel the world forward?”
From energy to data centres
This pivotal career change emerges as Bernard’s first major public engagement since his sudden departure from BP in September 2023, following a controversy regarding undisclosed past interactions with colleagues.
During his short, less than four year tenure at BP, Bernard was an advocate for a transitional shift in fuel consumption towards more environmentally friendly options.
With Prometheus Hyperscale, he now dives into a venture that shapes up as one of the planet’s largest data centres. The site, nestled on land owned by Trenton Thornock, who is both the founder and CEO of Prometheus, spans approximately one square mile—almost three-quarters the size of New York’s Central Park.
At its core, Prometheus Hyperscale is dedicated to developing data centre infrastructure that not only keeps pace with but also propels forward the advances in technology, all while endorsing sustainability.
“Data centres often add to the local community’s power needs and can drive up electricity costs,” Bernard said via a LinkedIn post. “People worry that instead of helping, AI may slow the transition and move us backwards.
“The opportunity to address these challenges is why I’ve joined Prometheus Hyperscale as Chairman.”
Sustainable data centres
The fast-paced growth of AI continues to push up power consumption, posing significant challenges for the data centre sector. This growth is set to result in tripling carbon emissions by 2030, leading to projections that AI-related activities could generate 2.5 billion tonnes of CO₂.
Partnering with nuclear energy innovators like Oklo, a company endorsed by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Prometheus Hyperscale is dedicated from the get-go to integrate sustainability in their blueprints. Bernard acknowledges Trenton Thronock’s anticipatory vision of a sustainable shift which underpins the company’s primary goals.
“Prometheus’s data centres aim to be largely self-sufficient, so they shouldn’t drive up local power prices,” he comments.
“The flagship Evanston project in Wyoming is surrounded by abundant resources in wind, solar and natural gas.
“The cooling could come from underground reservoirs (I knew my drilling days would come in handy) and liquid (vs air) cooling reduces power usage up to 50%; waste heat is captured and reused or recycled.”
Despite his commitment at BP for a net zero directive by 2050, adjustments were made in 2023 to accommodate an uptick in fossil fuel production, resulting also in an increase of 315 million metric tonnes of Scope 3 emissions due to the burning of BP’s oil and gas.
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