Data centers are coming to North Carolina, raising questions about infrastructure costs, energy sources and community impact. State Rep. Jeff McNeely (R-Iredell), Tim Profeta (Nicholas Institute) and Nick Jimenez (Southern Environmental Law Center) offered some answers during a roundtable discussion on PBS North Carolina's "State Lines."

Sandeep Pai (Duke University) and Jennifer Broadhurst (University of Cape Town) researched how India, South Africa and the United States are repurposing their coal assets. They write in The Conversation that South Africa moving away from burning coal to generate electricity and describe what the research suggests about how coal infrastructure could be turned into new agricultural and renewable energy hubs.

The interim report puts forth a set of recommendations to ensure that North Carolinians have affordable, reliable and clean energy supplies amid rapidly growing demand for energy, according to a press release from Gov. Stein's office. Recommendations include developing "options to encourage load flexibility," an issue that Nicholas Institute expert and task force member Tim Profeta is studying with Duke University colleagues.

Carbon emissions from China have continued to flatline or fall as cleaner forms of energy outpace coal and gas generation, according to an analysis published by Finland’s Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. "It’s more likely than ever that this is here to stay and that the overall emissions trajectory for China is likely to be relatively flat for the next couple of years, at which point it will likely begin to decline and, in fact, decline quite precipitously,” Nicholas Institute expert Jackson Ewing told Inside Climate News.

Instead of framing water primarily as an environmental challenge or a public works concern, the new Aspen National Water Strategy argues it should be treated as an economic foundation—on par with energy systems, transportation networks, and digital infrastructure, reports Environment+Energy Leader. The strategy was co-chaired by Duke University’s Martin Doyle and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Newsha Ajami.

This Duke Climate Collaboration Symposium gathered nearly 170 people to identify strategies for reducing food waste and building more equitable, resilient food systems. Hosted by Duke's World Food Policy Center at the Sanford School of Public Policy, the two-day event held a public keynote with Emily Broad Lieb of Harvard Law School and a private workshop examining research that influences household food waste with faculty, invited experts, and students.

Electricity demand in the United States is projected to surge in the coming years, and nuclear energy may be poised to fill the gap. Nicholas Institute expert Tom Cinq-Mars joined WFAE's "Charlotte Talks" for a roundtable discussion on the past and future of nuclear power in North Carolina.

India needs a mix of all kinds of strategies to fight climate change—reducing emissions through decreases in fossil fuel use, while also implementing carbon dioxide removal and carbon capture methods, Duke University expert Sandeep Pai told The Wire. “There is no way to reach net zero without some level of carbon removal and carbon capture technology,” he said.

As temperatures increasingly exceed the ability of electric fans to cool homes affordably, a new study highlights the extent to which extreme heat is already making socially vulnerable communities increasingly unlivable across the contiguous United States—and how this trend will continue as the planet warms. The paper was led by scientists from The Nature Conservancy alongside several researchers, including Duke University expert Ashley Ward.

This interview with Martin Doyle (Duke University) and Matt Ross (Colorado State University) focuses on water quality data accessibility and a partnership between the Radical Open Science Syndicate (ROSS) at Colorado State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This collaborative effort improved an existing EPA toolkit empowering water resource managers to use the data they collect.

A new Aspen National Water Strategy, published today by the Aspen Institute’s Energy & Environment Program, provides a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen water security across the United States and ensure that communities, economies, and ecosystems can thrive amid growing water-related challenges. Martin Doyle co-chaired the effort with Newsha Ajami of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

As artificial intelligence accelerates a wave of massive new data centers, North Carolina’s race to power AI is colliding with its climate goals and could reshape water use, emissions and electricity costs for decades, WRAL reports. “This is a statewide climate and infrastructure question,” said Nicholas Institute expert Jackson Ewing. “And it’s arriving faster than the regulatory framework designed to manage it.”

Duke expert Sandeep Pai joined FORESIGHT Climate & Energy's The Jolt podcast to discuss why repurposing old coal infrastructure needs better planning. Pai explained findings from a new study he co-authored that revealed insights on the topic from South Africa, India, and the United States.

Duke postdoctoral fellow Dimitris Floros is working with the Nicholas School of the Environment's GRACE Lab to explore whether the existing grid could be run in a “smarter” way by analyzing, understanding and reconciling uncertainty and modeling it. An evolution of the GRACE work, the Nicholas Institute brings together modelers such as Floros with lawyers, market experts and policy scholars to answer a pressing question: How can massive new loads—especially AI-driven data centers—connect to the grid without wrecking reliability or affordability?

Many Duke faculty have used small, strategic investments from the Provost’s Intellectual Community Planning Grants program to launch interdisciplinary collaborations that later attracted major external funding, created new academic programs and shaped public policy. One example is the Plastic Pollution Working Group, comprised of more than 60 Duke faculty, students, staff and postdocs aiming to better understand the issues around plastic pollution while working to develop solutions.