在10月2日这个最后一天，向一万多名科技领袖展示你的突破性成果。立即预订展台。关闭美国经济中的许多行业都在积极拥抱人工智能浪潮，气候科技界也不例外。鉴于美国各地正在大量建设天然气发电厂，为人工智能数据中心供电，一些人对此心存顾虑。但许多气候科技初创公司专注于能源领域，或与能源行业密切相关，因此它们将这一建设潮视为帮助企业渡过“死亡谷”的机会。
Last day to demo your breakthrough to 10,000+ tech leaders is on Oct 2. Book Exhibit Table Now.** Close ** Much of the climate tech community — like the rest of the U.S. economy —is eagerly riding the AI wave. Some have reservations about the sheer quantity of natural gas power plants being built to power AI data centers. But because many climate tech startups are energy-focused or energy-adjacent, the buildout has been embraced as an opportunity to get companies through the valley of death.
这种单一的关注重点也意味着，一些颇具前景的领域可能遭到忽视。
The singular focus also means some promising sectors risk being overlooked.
这一趋势延续了过去一年逐渐形成的潮流。随着气候科技公司因联邦拨款被取消或投资人态度谨慎而难以获得融资，那些能够调整推介方向、迎合人工智能热潮的公司纷纷采取了行动。
It’s a continuation of a trend that’s emerged over the last year. As climate tech companies struggled to get financing — either because of canceled federal grants or investor hesitancy — those that could change their pitch to match the AI mania did so.
这一转向帮助许多气候科技初创公司获得了投资者提供的新一轮融资。据PitchBook目前可获得的最新数据，风投交易总额已连续四个季度上升，并在今年第一季度突破140亿美元。这是近年来气候科技领域最好的融资环境Most交易主要由受益于数据中心建设的行业推动，包括建筑环境、电网基础设施，以及可根据需求随时启动或关闭的可调度能源。这样的机会，很少有人愿意放弃。
The pivot has helped many climate tech startups land fresh funding from investors. Total venture deal value has risen for four consecutive quarters, cresting the $14 billion-mark in the first quarter of this year, according to the most recent available data from PitchBook. It’s the best fundraising environment for climate tech in the last few years, with most of the deal value driven by sectors boosted by data center construction, including the built environment, grid infrastructure, and dispatchable energy that can be turned on or off when it’s needed. It’s an opportunity few have wanted to pass up.
在纽约气候周的一场小组讨论中，一段交流生动体现了这一点：两位创始人在被问及，他们更希望人工智能建设以当前速度推进，还是以更负责任气候的速度推进时，都毫不犹豫地表示，速度越快越好。毫不意外的是，他们创办的两家公司都属于能源领域。
One exchange during a panel at New York Climate Week captured the moment: Two founders, when asked whether they’d prefer the AI buildout to proceed at its current pace or at a more climate-responsible speed, said without hesitation that faster was better. Unsurprisingly, both of their startups were in energy.
Meta押注人工智能版拓麻歌子……奏效了？| Equity播客 33分35秒中的0秒 音量0% 按下Shift和问号键可查看键盘快捷键列表 键盘快捷键 已启用 已禁用 打开/关闭 或？
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播放/暂停 空格 音量增大↑ 音量减小↓ 快进→ 快退← 字幕开启/关闭 c 全屏/退出全屏 f 静音/取消静音 m 缩小字幕尺寸- 放大字幕尺寸+ 或 = 跳转 %0-9 自动 406p 1080p 720p 540p 406p 360p 270p 180p 直播 然而，并非所有人都认同。
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我听到几位创始人说，数据中心的热潮分散了人们对气候科技其他潜力领域的关注，其中包括一些无需依赖人工智能狂热便能实现目标的领域。
I heard from several founders who felt that the data center boom was distracting from other promising segments of climate tech, including those that were meeting their targets without having to rely on AI mania.
“企业仍然关注气候问题，”一位创始人告诉我。如今的不同之处在于，大企业不愿大肆宣扬这一点，主要是担心激怒特朗普政府。
“Corporates are still interested in climate,” one founder told me. The difference today is that large companies don’t want to crow about it, mostly for fear of drawing the Trump administration’s ire.
也有迹象表明，人工智能热潮开始让一些人感到腻烦。三年前，即便一些初创公司已经展现出不错的前景，要获得扩大业务规模的资金仍很困难。如今，客户却争着要求产品演示。“三年前，这些钱在哪儿？”我问了好几个人。回答我的不止一个人，他们意味深长地翻了个白眼。
There were also signs that the AI boom was beginning to wear thin on some. For many startups, money for scaling was hard to find three years ago, even if they were showing promising results. Now, customers are clawing their way into demos. “Where was this money three years ago?”I asked several people. I received more than a few knowing eye rolls in reply.
他们承认，这就是如今所处的世界。聪明的创业者都在想方设法主动走到客户面前。
It’s the world they live in these days, they acknowledged. The smart entrepreneurs are all finding ways to meet customers where they are.
归根结底，纽约气候周释放出的潜流是，数据中心这场派对不会永远持续，但它或许能持续足够长时间，帮助初创企业建立起稳固持久的业务。一旦做到这一点，它们便能重新专注于成立之初所追求的减排使命。
Ultimately, the undercurrent at New York Climate Week was that the data center party won’t last forever, but it might last long enough to help startups build durable businesses. Once that happens, they can refocus on the carbon-cutting mission they were founded to pursue.