AI's energy footprint

Part Three: Fuel and emissions Now that we have an estimate of the total energy required to run an AI model to produce text, images, and videos, we can work out what that means in terms of emissions that cause climate change. First, a data center humming away isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If all data centers were hooked up to solar panels and ran only when the sun was shining, the world would be talking a lot less about AI’s energy consumption. That’s not the case. Most electrical grids around the world are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels. So electricity use comes with a climate toll attached. “AI data centers need constant power, 24-7, 365 days a year,” says Rahul Mewawalla, the CEO of Mawson Infrastructure Group, which builds and maintains high-energy data centers that support AI. That means data centers can’t rely on intermittent technologies like wind and solar power, and on average, they tend to use dirtier electricity. One preprint study from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School ... Read full article.