Climate change is a by-product of progress, not an existential crisis, says Trump's energy czar
N early every aspect of modern life depends upon energy. It fuels opportunity, lifts people out of poverty and saves lives. That is why, as a lifelong energy entrepreneur and as us Secretary of Energy, I am honoured to advance President Donald Trump's policy of bettering lives through unleashing a golden age of energy dominance—both at home and around the world. Opinion Climate change By Invitation
The key will be to develop technologies at prices attractive to China and India
Young people and city-dwellers are among those most likely to see one group's gain as another's loss
From housing to health care, the answer is to treat 'cost disease', says Jake Auchincloss
To install a loyalist, Donald Trump will have to overcome barriers in the courts, in Congress and in markets
NATO's front line needs more money, says Gundbert Scherf, but just as important is smarter technology
The organisation should not be held hostage by a few powerful states
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump says Zelenskiy should not target Moscow
WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy should not target Moscow and that Russian President Vladimir Putin should agree to a ceasefire deal by a 50-day deadline or sanctions will kick in. His comments came after The Financial Times, citing people briefed on discussions, reported on Tuesday that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up deep strikes on Russia. The newspaper added that Trump asked Zelenskiy whether he could strike Moscow if the U.S. provided long-range weapons. "No, he shouldn't target Moscow," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House when asked if Zelenskiy should attack the Russian capital. Trump on Monday announced a toughened stance against Russia for its three-year-old war in Ukraine, promising a fresh wave of missiles and other weaponry for Ukraine. He gave Moscow 50 days to reach a ceasefire or face sanctions. Asked if he was now on the side of Ukraine, Trump said, "I am on nobody's side," and then declared he was on "humanity's side" because "I want to stop the killing." Trump defended the deadline he set for Russia to agree to a deal and head off tariffs and sanctions on countries that buy oil from Russia. "I don't think 50 days is very long and it could be sooner than that," he said. He did not say whether any talks were planned to try to work out a deal with Russia. "At the end of the 50 days if we don't have a deal, it's going to be too bad," he said.
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump to unveil $70bn AI and energy plan at summit with oil and tech bigwigs
Donald Trump will join big oil and technology bosses on Tuesday at a major artificial intelligence and energy summit in Pittsburgh, outraging environmentalists and community organizations. The event comes weeks after the passage of a megabill that experts say could stymy AI growth with its attacks on renewable energy. The inaugural Pennsylvania energy and innovation summit, held at Carnegie Mellon University, will attempt to position the state as an AI leader, showcasing the technological innovation being developed in the city and the widespread availability of fossil fuel reserves to power them. At the gathering, Trump will announce $70bn in AI and energy investments for the state, Axios first reported, in a move the event's host Republican Pennsylvania senator Dave McCormick says will be a boon to local economies. But activists say the investment, which will boost planet-heating energy production, will have disastrous consequences for the climate and for nearby communities. 'Pennsylvanians are paying the price for decisions made behind closed doors: higher utility bills, contaminated water, poor air quality, and worsening health,' said Hilary Flint, Pennsylvania field organizing manager at the non-profit Center for Oil and Gas Organizing. Flint signed a Tuesday letter to Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro opposing his plans to work with Trump to expand AI, along with dozens of organizations and individuals. The event also comes less than two weeks after Republicans on Capitol Hill passed a Trump-backed budget bill which could dramatically increase the spending and effort needed to power AI data centers, thanks to its rollback of green energy tax credits. Renewable energy is almost always cheaper to build and easier to bring online than fossil fuels. Many tech executives invited to the event have said the availability of wind and solar are essential to the success of AI. Microsoft's Satya Nadella said last May that powering data centers with renewable energy would 'drive down the cost of AI', while OpenAI head Sam Altman said months earlier that 'there's no way' to grow his industry without a 'breakthrough' in affordable clean energy technology. Tech giants Google and its parent company Alphabet, as well as Meta have also both invested in wind and solar to power data centers. But the oil industry, whose top brass are also at the Pittsburgh summit, lobbied in favor of the megabill's green energy incentive rollbacks. 'It includes almost all of our priorities,' Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the fossil fuel industry's largest lobbying group, told CNBC about the legislation. Sommers is on the guest list for the event. The gathering, to which no public interest consumer or environmental groups were invited, is expected to severely downplay the climate and health consequences of this technological expansion fueled by oil and gas. Data centers used for AI are highly resource intensive, sometimes consuming as much power as entire cities. By the end of the decade, data processing, mainly for AI, is expected to consume more electricity in the US alone than manufacturing steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined, according to the International Energy Agency. 'Political leaders should be investing their time meeting with frontline communities, environmental scientists, and renewable energy leaders and using their political muscle to create a just transition to renewable energy — not attending summits that double down on old, dirty energy,' said Jess Conard, Appalachia director at the environmental group Beyond Plastics, who lives in the nearby town of East Palestine, Ohio. 'Fossil fuels aren't progress, no matter how you try to rebrand them.' Critics have also raised concerns about security and privacy in the wake of AI's growth. The New York Times and other plaintiffs, including prominent authors Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Chabon and Junot Díaz and the comedian Sarah Silverman, are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement; OpenAI has also received scrutiny for reported labor misconduct. Both OpenAI and Microsoft have defended their positions around copyright infringement allegations. 'Trump's radical AI plan is yet another example of the President siding with powerful corporations ahead of the American people,' said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Trump does U-turn saying Zelensky should NOT bomb Moscow despite wanting Putin to 'feel the pain'
President Donald Trump warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not to bomb Moscow, making a sharp shift in strategy as he pushes to end the war in the Ukraine. Trump pushed back on a report that he privately urged the Ukrainian president to increase strikes on Russian territory and asked Zelensky if he was able to hit Moscow and St. Petersburg. 'No, he shouldn't target Moscow,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday when asked about his conversation with Zelensky. But, according to reports, Zelensky, in his July 4th call with Trump, suggested to the president that Ukraine needed long-range precision American weapons, leading Trump to inquire about the potential targets. 'Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? … Can you hit St Petersburg too?' Trump asked, the Financial Times reported, citing multiple sources. The president said he wanted Putin to 'feel the pain.' Zelensky replied: 'Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.' Moscow is nearly 300 miles from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory and St. Petersburg is 530 miles away. Trump signaled his support for the idea, describing the strategy as intended to 'make them [Russians] feel the pain' and force the Kremlin to the negotiating table, according to the two people briefed on the call. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued Trump's words were taken out of context, saying the president 'was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing.' Ukraine has repeatedly targeted sites as far as 1,000 miles inside Russia - including in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Putin 's hometown - but the Kremlin says those missiles have been taken down by drone. Trump has show increased impatience with Putin and wants the Russian leader to come to the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine. However, he clarified that despite agreeing to send American weapons to Kyiv, he's 'not looking' to give Ukraine long-range weapons - the kind that could do the most damage. And, asked what side he's on in Russia-Ukraine war, the president said he's on 'humanity's side.' 'You know what the side I'm on - humanity's side. I want to stop the killing of thousands of people to go away. Stop the killing. I want the killing to stop,' he told reporters. Trump, on Monday, threatened to slap 100 percent tariffs on Russia in 50 days if a deal to end the war isn't reached. And he's doubled down on that threat. 'I don't think 50 days is very long, and it could be sooner than that,' he said on Tuesday. 'The tariffs are going to go on and other sanctions.' He said he hasn't talked to Putin since that threat as he tries to use his economic might to bring Putin to heel. The Russian president has ignored Trump's call for a ceasefire and ratcheted up his attacks on Ukraine, sending more than 500 drones and missiles almost daily. Trump, in a meeting on Monday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed that he's sending American weapons to Ukraine and that the U.S. will not be paying for them. He made a deal with NATO to send sophisticated weaponry, including Patriot missiles, to Ukraine. But Trump insisted that the U.S. will not be footing the bill after being taken advantage of for so long. 'We've made a deal today where we are going to be sending [Ukraine] weapons and [Europe] is going to be paying for them,' he stated. 'We - the United States - will not be having any payment made. We're not buying it, but we will manufacture it, and they're going to be paying for it.' Trump, for weeks, has been showing his frustration with the Russian leader's refusal to stand down and come to peace talks. 'We are very, very unhappy with [Russia], and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent,' he noted.
