Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta are teaming up with a nonprofit investor to accelerate new technologies using data centers as test cases.

Why it matters: The initiative, led by Elemental Impact, is among the clearest attempts yet to turn the massive buildout of AI infrastructure into a proving ground for new technologies rather than just a new source of emissions.

Those technologies include advanced cooling, energy storage and low-carbon building materials.

"We see data centers as really important customers for entrepreneurs to commercialize technologies that we've been working on for a long time," said Dawn Lippert, CEO and founder of Elemental Impact, the nonprofit investment firm spearheading the initiative.

The big picture: The AI boom is driving a historic surge in electricity demand, increasing fossil fuel use and putting climate goals — including those of major tech companies — on the back burner.

Opposition to data centers is also growing, fueled by concerns about rising power prices and AI…