The recent boom and generative AI models relies on intense computational resources built on power-hungry chips and server farms around the world.

That demand could double by 2026, compounding the increasing need for electricity that's already taxing the grid.

Hi everybody, I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News.

Joining me now is my Forbes colleague senior editor Alex Knapp.

Alex, thanks so much for joining me.

Happy to be here as always.

We have been talking about generative AI for a while now and for those who might or might not know it relies on chips which in turn uses a great amount of electricity.

You're reporting that one startup is using AI to tap into a form of renewable energy, can you talk to us about what this

company is doing and what problem they're trying to solve?

Sure, so one of the most abundant sources of renewable energy is called geothermal energy, which is literally the ability to tap into the heat that is naturally generated below the Earth's surface.

And this is used in a large number of applications,

but it's actually more expensive

than a lot of other kinds of renewable energy and so it counts for less than about 1% of the total

electricity generated in the United States right now. A big reason for that is that it costs a lot to explore for the right spots to dig and

drill.

If you have a geothermal project and you manage to drill in the right spot the first time, that's still about half of the total cost of the project.

So you can imagine that if you have a few misses, even one or two, you've suddenly massively increased the amount of money you're

spending on a single geothermal power plant and that in turn makes it less

you know incentivized for utilities and other potential

investors to go for it. And so what exactly is Zanskar, the startup that you

are reporting on, what are they trying to solve here that the

different places that you can drill? Yeah that's exactly right so what

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