--- --- Oct 30, 2025 # Michael Terrell Global Head of Advanced Energy, Google by Michael Terrell  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Courtesy Photo) _As demand for energy powering AI and data center operations grows, Michael Terrell, the global head of Advanced Energy at Google, is responsible for turning the company’s 24/7 carbon-free energy vision into reality. Terrell has helped broker many high-profile clean energy deals including Nevada’s first “clean transition tariff” that adds 115 MW of new enhanced geothermal power from provider Fervo to Nevada's grid, implementing a flexible demand model with utility provider Entergy at their new data center in Arkansas, and committing to buy energy from Commonwealth Fusion._ **What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?** Accelerate the deployment of the most impactful new technologies that can provide affordable, reliable, clean energy to power grids. The team I lead at Google is working hard to identify the most promising solutions and help them reach commercial scale, including through recent first-of-a-kind agreements with Kairos Energy (advanced fission reactors), Commonwealth Fusion Systems (nuclear fusion), Fervo Energy (enhanced geothermal), Energy Dome (long duration battery storage), and CTC Global (grid-enhancing technologies). We need many more companies, governments, and investors to support these innovative technologies, which together can help meet the world’s growing energy needs with reliable, carbon-free power. **What is a climate solution that isn't getting the attention or funding it deserves?** Making large electricity users like data centers consume power more flexibly, so that they can shift or reduce power demand when grids are stressed. Research and experience shows that if large energy users commit to even a small amount of flexibility, they can reduce the need to build new power plants while enabling new energy demand to be met much faster. By enabling existing power generation to be used more efficiently, demand flexibility benefits all customers as well as the planet—a true win-win. Michael Terrell: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326583/michael-terrell/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326583/michael-terrell/"},"headline":"Michael Terrell","datePublished":"2025-10-30T11:30:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:01:33.590Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326583/michael-terrell/","keywords":["TIME100 Climate 2025","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab0a5051d855a2e3/6998cb0da97fc01c67a74d1c/Titans-Michael-Terrell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab0a5051d855a2e3/6998cb0da97fc01c67a74d1c/Titans-Michael-Terrell.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-climate-2025/","name":"TIME100 Climate 2025"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326583/michael-terrell/","name":"Michael Terrell"}}]}] ```