The Hidden Energy Crisis Powering Your ChatGPT Search

Shawn Cutter, Founder & CEO of EnergiAcres, went from sixth-generation Ohio farmer to Discovery Channel reality TV star to selling his oil and gas software startup to Quorum before Series A. Now he's building circular energy infrastructure that pairs power plants with data centers and greenhouses to make energy count twice. We get into the grid crisis, the cloud vs on-prem debate, and whether data centers will ever make it to space. Click here to watch a video of this episode. Join the conversation shaping the future of energy. Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward. Apply today at collide.io Click here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Intro and guest background 01:24 - Sixth-generation farmer and family oil and gas roots 02:39 - The Discovery Channel reality TV show 07:44 - Building an oil and gas software startup 10:45 - Getting acquired by Quorum before Series A 15:39 - Life inside a big company post-acquisition 19:15 - Mistakes, pivots, and finding his way back 21:49 - What EnergiAcres actually does 24:07 - The data center power crisis. 28:20 - Energy mix and fixing the grid 31:13 - How data centers evolved and why power demand exploded 36:27 - Cloud vs on-prem and the cost reality 39:28 - Water usage and cooling problems 41:54 - EnergiAcres' greenhouse and circular energy model 45:23 - SMRs, space data centers, and what comes next https://twitter.com/collide_ai https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io https://www.facebook.com/collide.io https://www.instagram.com/collide.io https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai