--- --- Oct 30, 2025 # Varun Sivaram Founder and CEO, Emerald AI by [Jay Bouchard](https://time.com/author/jay-bouchard/) ## Jay Bouchard  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Courtesy Photo) America’s power grid is under enormous strain—a problem only compounded by the energy demands of the artificial intelligence boom. As tech innovators rush to build data centers that will power the next generation of AI tools, energy consumption will[ rise significantly](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/us-electricity-demand-to-grow-25-annually-thru-2035-bofa-institute/753911/). In fact, the energy demand from data centers is [expected to double ](https://www.iea.org/news/ai-is-set-to-drive-surging-electricity-demand-from-data-centres-while-offering-the-potential-to-transform-how-the-energy-sector-works)by 2030, and much of the demand is poised to be met by fossil fuels. But according to Varun Sivaram, the solution to AI’s strain on the power grid might actually be AI itself. “Far from undermining the grid,” he says, “AI could actually save it.” Sivaram, who holds a Ph.D. in solar physics and whose resume includes stints at the Council on Foreign Relations, in the Biden Administration and as an executive at one of India’s largest renewable energy firms, ReNew Power, recently made another career shift: In July, he launched [Emerald AI](https://www.emeraldai.co/), which aims to help data centers become more flexible in their energy consumption, particularly during periods of peak demand. Emerald AI initially announced it had secured $24.5 million in seed funding from major tech investors like Nvidia, and in late October it secured another $18 million. Backers include former Secretary of State John Kerry and Jeff Dean, who leads Google’s AI division. Sivaram [tested](https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/nvidia-and-oracle-tapped-this-startup-to-flex-a-phoenix-data-center/) the technology for the first time in a live environment during a hot afternoon in Phoenix in May. Over three hours, as demand around the city increased, Emerald AI’s software helped an Oracle data center drop its power consumption by 25%. Sivaram bets that by providing this type of relief, grids will be able to incorporate more renewable energy sources. “AI,” he says, “could be the best thing that happens to the climate.” Sivaram answered TIME’s survey on the state of the climate movement: **What gives you hope about the future of the planet?** My hope comes from turning the AI energy crisis on its head. While the narrative is often about AI’s massive and problematic electricity consumption, I see something different: the emergence of the single greatest tool we’ve ever had to manage a clean energy grid. Unlike historical industrial energy users, AI data centers possess a unique and transformative capacity for what we call "spatiotemporal flexibility." Their workloads are fundamentally different. Many essential but non-urgent tasks, like training a model, can be intelligently paused or slowed for brief periods during grid stress (temporal flexibility). And workloads that can't be paused, like a user's query to a chatbot, can be rerouted at the speed of light from a data center in a region with a strained grid to one where power is abundant (spatial flexibility). This ability to act as a massive, intelligent, and continent-spanning "shock absorber" is revolutionary. It means we can finally build a grid that embraces cheap but intermittent renewables like solar and wind at a massive scale. Before the AI revolution, managing a fully renewable grid was a daunting challenge. I know—I served on the Global Executive Team of a massive energy producer, Orsted, leading a team of 200 in Denmark. And I left it all behind to start Emerald AI to focus on harnessing AI's rapid ascent to actually help the grid and advance a more reliable, affordable, and clean power system. Now, by harnessing AI to orchestrate AI, we have a powerful new ally. AI’s demand for energy is forcing us to build a smarter grid, and its inherent flexibility gives us the very tool we need to make that grid clean. **If you could stand up and talk to world leaders at the next COP, what would you say?** Earlier in my career, I served as America's lead clean energy diplomat, and I've attended more COPs than I care to count. At COP 30, my message to world leaders is simple: to shift focus from intractable negotiations to catalyzing innovation and real private sector investments. The most durable climate progress comes not from treaties, but from making clean energy solutions profitable and scalable in the real economy. Leaders should champion initiatives modeled on the First Movers Coalition—an alliance I created between the U.S. government, the World Economic Forum, and over 100 global companies, such as Salesforce, General Motors, and others. This model uses the collective purchasing power of the private sector to create guaranteed early markets for critical innovations, pulling forward the technologies we need for a clean energy transition. At the next COP, instead of focusing on issues where countries will endlessly disagree, leaders should use their convening power to launch a new coalition, modeled after the FMC, that is focused on AI. By bringing together the world’s leading technology companies, data center operators, and utilities, they could create a multi-billion dollar demand signal for power-flexible AI infrastructure. This would unleash a wave of private investment, accelerate innovation, and ensure the AI revolution advances, rather than hinders, our shared climate goals. The role of government is not to solve this problem alone, but to be the catalyst that unleashes the engine of innovation in the private sector. 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