Presented by Duke Energy. Innovation isn't optional. It is how Duke Energy meets the moment.

Investing more than $100 billion in critical American energy infrastructure over the last decade,

and plans for $190 billion more. We focus on cutting-edge grid and power generation,

AI dominance, and reshoring manufacturing.

Duke Energy keeps the lights on, the power flowing, and our country growing. Hey, everybody, it's Anna Palmer from The Daily Punch.

Welcome to the first special edition podcast for The Future of Energy series.

This month, we're laying out the state of play, engaging in key interviews with leaders in the space and the outlook on what's to come.

A big thank you to Duke Energy for making this podcast and product possible.

You can check out the full project at Punchbowl. News.

Today, I'm going to be speaking with Diego Munez, a tech policy reporter at Punchball News.

We're going to be discussing the future of energy.

Diego, thanks for joining me.

Thanks for having me.

All right, you write in this first profile, global energy needs grew faster than the normal pace in 2024, rising by 2.2% last year compared to the 1.3% annual average for the previous decade, according to the International

Energy Agency. However, you write, the growing appetite for energy poses a challenge to efforts

to reduce carbon emissions and their impact on the environment. Those competing currents will

drive many of the policy decisions for decades as governments around the world

push for decarbonization and move away from fossil fuels. So, teed this topic up for us. The world

is about to need more energy than ever before. Why? Well, AI is a big reason why.

AI is not just something that lives in the cloud.

It's not just, you know, the chatbot that you talk to.

AI requires a whole set of infrastructure, very hard infrastructure needs,

...