iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Finally, locational pricing is an idea whose time has come. The CEO of Ofgem said as much on Friday. Of course not every datacentre will move north but we can make it easier & more desirable for energy-hungry businesses to locate where the energy abundance is.

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On energy, the government should be championing SMRs (prefab mini nuclear plants). Not just one or two but building fleets, so that the costs come down. Thanks to companies like Rolls SMR, this is an area where the UK can lead.

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On planning, the government have made the right start in their AI strategy but we can go faster & further. Simplify the process & let councils keep the business rates to incentivise them to be part of the solution.

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The @SMFthinktank makes 3 key recommendations: 1) Incentivise datacentres through datacentre zoning & bypassing planning 2) In the long run - build fleets of SMRs (mini nuclear plants) 3) Locational pricing - allow the price of wholesale price of energy to come down in Scotland

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Failure to build enough domestic data centre capacity runs the risk of UK businesses & consumers being unable to access the compute they need, leading to higher costs of digital services in the UK & an exodus of AI companies & talent. So what can we do to solve this?

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Alarm bells should be ringing. While the UK leads Europe on datacentres, this is not guaranteed indefinitely. Our key competitors - France & Germany - are catching up. Frankfurt & Paris are accelerating their compute growth faster than London.

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The absurdity of the UK's outdated energy market is that we have excess supply in Scotland &the North & excess demand in the South East but can't connect one to the other. Ridiculously, we're routinely switching off wind turbines in Scotland that would power London for a day.

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The UK’s cripplingly high energy costs are stunting the growth of the UK’s data centre sector. Our energy market risks pricing the UK out of the AI race.

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🧵HOW TO POWER AI - New from @SMFthinktank The UK ranks 4th gl;obally on AI talent & research but infrastructure is the Achilles heel of the UK’s AI ambitions, where we rank 17th. Two problems: planning & energy costs risk us losing our European crown. The problem in one chart:

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What this amounts to is a doubling down on supply side reform - or at least Labour's version of supply side reform.

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They're sending a message that is on the one hand clear and stark to regulators (you must consider growth) but on the other hand is hard for regulators to act on

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They're positioning growth in opposition to environmental protectionism and green nimbys but not in opposition to net zero - that's a tricky balancing act

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Today marks a decisive shift in Labour's strategy. Reeves' speech and Starmer's article are less doomsterish and much more bullish - not just about the future but the present.

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There is an argument for saying this is freedom of speech but it's the same argument for saying people should have the freedom to smoke on a plane.

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Alex Jones - banned from Facebook, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Mailchimp, LinkedIn, Paypal - is allowed on X since Musk bought it. Below is an ad promoting Jones & his conspiracy theory that MRNA is causing 'COVID AIDS'. X directly profit from this misinfo.

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Both sides living up to their stereotype today: BlueSky: growth is good, nimbys are bad and actually PR is really quite possible, probably inevitable X: growth growth is good, nimbys are bad and actually the death penalty is quite sensible, probably inevitable

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Looking at heat pumps in particular

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To cut through the confusion & noise, consumer champions are more trusted voices than government or companies. Govt can also do more to show (not tell): a key recommendation is that heat pumps are widely used in public buildings - build confidence by making that visible.

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There is scepticism about who to listen to on net zero. Experts are seen as having a vested interest and politicians are untrusted. Very few people know where to go to find reliable information on things like heat pumps.

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Myths about net zero spread easily - often by politicians and public figures. The idea that heat pumps only work in new build, are untested, or will be forced upon people are common myths.

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There are several challenges facing net zero advocates. Many people feel that they have no say or control over net zero decisions and instead feel it is being done *to* them, rather than with or for them.

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A primary concern is the cost to the taxpayer. This is a meme that has widely taken hold. It doesn't stop support for net zero but it encourages scepticism about achieving goals.

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Across the political spectrum (even among the Greens) and particularly among Reform voters there is a prevalent view that net zero by 2050 is a 'nice idea but too difficult to achieve'.

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However when you start to dig below the surface, support for net zero is significantly softer among older people and among those on lower incomes.

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