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Climate Confident - Practical Climate Solutions That Cut Emissions

AI’s Power Demand Is Colliding With Grid Decarbonisation

February 18, 2026 • Tom Raftery • Season 1 • Episode 260

0:00 | 45:40

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AI’s energy demand isn’t a future problem. It’s straining grids today. And most companies aren’t ready.

In this episode, I’m joined by Beatrice Clark, Vice President of Sustainability and Social Impact at Turtle and Hughes, a North American electrical distributor and systems integrator working at the sharp edge of the energy transition. We unpack what surging AI and data centre growth means for infrastructure, resilience, and real-world decarbonisation - not in theory, but on the ground.

You’ll hear why energy demand from AI is now “on the tip of everybody’s tongue”, and how utilities and independent producers are scrambling to keep up. We dig into the tension between diesel reliability and microgrid ambition, and why hybrid redundancy may be the uncomfortable truth of the transition. You might be surprised to learn how fleet electrification looks when you’re moving heavy loads across unpredictable routes. It’s not ideology. It’s maths, logistics, and physics.

We also explore double materiality, Scope 3 collaboration, and why sustainability only works when it strengthens operational performance. Net zero isn’t achieved in PowerPoint. It’s delivered through infrastructure, policy, and accountability across the value chain.

If you care about climate tech, grid transformation, emissions reduction, and what decarbonisation actually looks like inside energy-intensive businesses, this conversation cuts through the noise.

Listen now to hear how Beatrice Clark and Turtle and Hughes are navigating the hard realities of the energy transition.

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