The Environmental Concern of Artificial Intelligence Data Centers
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
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New Trend: AI Infrastructure Surge
Across the United States, tech companies and businesses have been building data centers in various small towns. Data centers have been around since the 1940s, but these facilities have been housing AI software and technology. They use enough electricity to power 100,000 homes and cover more than a million square feet. They require billions of gallons of water to cool down their computer hardware systems.
Considering that 40% of the population in both the United States and the United Kingdom reports using AI chatbots, it raises concerns about how AI could be negatively impacting the environment. Researchers have also estimated that using ChatGPT for any prompt consumes about five times more electricity than a simple web search.
Scientists have estimated that the power within American data centers has increased from 2,688 megawatts at the end of 2022 to 5,341 megawatts at the end of 2023 due to the demands of generative AI. By 2026, the electricity consumption of data centers is expected 1,050 terawatt-hours. Not every data center computation involves generative AI, but the technology plays a major factor in increasing energy demands. According to MIT scientist Noman Bashir, he states that, “the demand for new data centers cannot be met in a sustainable way. The pace at which companies are building new data centers means the bulk of the electricity to power them must come from fossil fuel-based power plants.” With traditional AI, energy consumption is split between data processing, model training, and inference, which is a process of using a trained model to make predictions on new data.
The energy consumption of AI will not stop anytime soon. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reported that data centers will consume somewhere between 6.7% to 12% of North America’s total energy use by 2028. The burning of fossil fuels at these centers creates dangerous air pollution that may directly harm human health, particularly in communities vulnerable to industrial pollution. For companies to be more considerate about using AI data centers, they must adopt sustainable methods and strategies for the sake of the environment and public health.
New Insight: How to Manage AI's Enviornmental Impact
Despite the dangers of AI data centers across the United States, many companies have already adopted environmentally sustainable strategies. Amazon has matched 100% of its operations’ global energy consumption with electricity generated by renewable energy systems. Microsoft established a supplier code of conduct, requiring suppliers to transition to 100% carbon free electricity by 2030. Google has also committed to rely on carbon-free electricity by 2030 and have launched efforts to improve AI model efficiency and data center energy consumption.
When it comes to other global company methods to build a sustainable future, there are six strategies to conduct.
Leverage tools to measure, analyze and report your emissions over time.
Use efficient AI models and optimize AI workflows by leveraging pre-trained models and APIs (Application Programming Interface), along with compressing models or use batch processing wherever possible.
Partner with sustainable vendors by utilizing AI and cloud platforms that commit to renewable or carbon-free energy and that publish sustainability metrics and goals.
Educate and train employees on emissions, energy demands and water use related to businesses and AI operations.
Source ideas for sustainability-related efforts from employees and create an environmental sustainability employee resource group to lead the implementation of such efforts.
Engage with consumers and suppliers to collaborate on ways to mitigate energy use and emissions.
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most captivating innovations of the modern era. While everyone is utilizing it now to the best of its abilities, the pursuit of it to create more advanced products and future will make it difficult to resist. It will lead to a world where unnecessary damages are done due to under regulation. The effort in using generative AI must be balanced against environmental costs of servers themselves to consider the consequences towards carbon, energy, and water footprints.
New Action: How You Can Manage AI Enviornmentally Sustainably
Since the launch of ChatGPT and further development of AI, it has left a very strong impact on the global environment. The construction and operation of AI data centers have left many concerned citizens raising questions and debate about the waste of energy and water to function AI software. If your company is developing an AI data center, you must consider environmentally sustainable strategies to ease the carbon footprint and preserve as many resources as possible.
AI data centers are being built outside of small towns and communities, which have raised concerns about the use of energy and water for AI systems.
The amount of energy and water needed will increase over time and further contribute to the production of carbon emissions in the air.
Companies like Amazon and Google have adopted more environmentally sustainable strategies of running their AI systems to ease the impact of its carbon footprint.
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