The global electricity constraint on artificial intelligence. On March 4, 2026, seven CEOs signed a nonbinding pledge at the White House. Three days later, the PJM capacity auction cleared at 833% above the previous year. A fire chief in Ohio testified about eighty-four emergency calls. A petition with 143,196 signatures was rejected by thirty-six votes in Niigata. This episode maps the physical infrastructure of AI from the grid operator's screen to the township zoning board, across two countries, two governance traditions, thirteen academic frameworks, and the question no one at the signing ceremony asked: what does the cloud require of the ground beneath it? Eight perspectives steelmanned. Six frameworks applied. Episode 19. ~20,000 words.

This episode was produced using the Proxima.Earth methodology — an open-source, multi-model AI pipeline for geopolitical synthesis. No human is in the loop after subject selection. The methodology is the editorial control. Full methodology, prompts, and production transparency: proxima.earth/methodology

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