新创公司 American Supercritical 宣布获得 800 万美元融资，计划利用超临界二氧化碳技术改造为资料中心供电的低效率燃气涡轮机。随著人工智慧发展推升电力需求，许多资料中心依赖仅有约 35% 能源转换效率的单循环涡轮机，产生大量温室气体并对气候造成严重冲击。

超临界二氧化碳在高压特定温度下兼具液体密度与气体特性，能更有效率地传递能量。该公司计划推出 10 兆瓦的发电模组，直接回收燃气涡轮机排放的废热来发电，打造微型复循环发电系统，不仅能在不增加碳排与耗水量的形况下将涡轮机效率提升达 50%，还能大幅缓解水资源耗损问题。

尽管超临界二氧化碳发电具备极大潜力且适用于地热、核能及太阳能等多种热源，但商业化普及仍面临供应链建构、技术整合与高昂成本等重大挑战。此外，传统发电业者缺乏变革动力，而单纯提高天然气涡轮效率亦无法根除碳排放，要在满足庞大运算电力需求与环境永续间取得平衡仍须持续克服难关。（关键数字：2）

Startup American Supercritical has emerged from stealth with $8 million in funding, aiming to retrofit the inefficient gas turbines powering data centers using supercritical carbon dioxide technology. As the AI race drives unprecedented electricity demand, many facilities rely on simple-cycle turbines with merely 35 percent energy efficiency, releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases and creating significant climate risks.

Under precise temperature and pressure conditions, carbon dioxide reaches a supercritical state that combines liquid density with gaseous behavior, enabling highly efficient energy transport in compact equipment. American Supercritical plans to deploy 10-megawatt closed-loop units that capture turbine exhaust heat to generate additional electricity like miniature combined-cycle plants, boosting overall efficiency by up to 50 percent without adding carbon emissions or consuming water.

While supercritical CO2 systems offer broad utility across geothermal, nuclear, and solar heat sources, widespread commercialization faces steep hurdles including supply chain maturity, engineering integration, and elevated costs. Moreover, legacy energy players remain slow to adopt novel designs, and retrofitting fossil-fuel infrastructure cannot eliminate baseline natural gas emissions, leaving unresolved tensions between surging digital power needs and global climate commitments.