A pair of studies analyzing the effects of AI on our planet have been released and the news is fairly grim. Greenpeace studied the emissions generated from the production of the semiconductors used in AI chips and found that there was a fourfold increase in 2024. This analysis was completed using publicly available data.
Many of the big chipmakers like NVIDIA rely on companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and SK Hynix Inc. for the components of GPUs and memory units. Most of this manufacturing happens in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, where power grids are primarily reliant on fossil fuels. This accounts for some of the increase in global emissions. The organization also says that global electricity requirements for AI could experience a 170-fold increase by 2030.
Greenpeace’s estimates have led some to worry that the AI race could derail global decarbonization goals, according to a report by Bloomberg. The nonprofit recommends that governments in eastern Asia transition to renewable power for chip manufacturing, but the opposite seems to be happening. South Korea recently announced plans to build plants for four gigawatts of gas-fired power generation. Taiwan has used the increased power demand related to AI as an excuse to expand liquid natural gas projects and grid infrastructure.
Another study by The International Energy Agency (IEA) took a look at the US. The analysis suggested that power consumption by AI-adjacent data centers could account for half of the growth in electricity demand by 2030. As a matter of fact, the US economy could be on track to consume more electricity for processing data than for manufacturing all energy-intensive goods combined. This includes aluminum, steel, cement and chemicals.
Electricity demand from global data centers could more than double by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours (TWh). That’s more than the entire electricity consumption of Japan. It’s a whopping 30 times more than the electricity consumption of Ireland.
Proponents of AI say that the massive energy needs will eventually abate as the technology leads to scientific discoveries that accelerate innovation in fields like batteries and solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. However, that’s a big fat maybe.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/global-emissions-due-to-ai-related-chipmaking-grew-more-than-four-times-in-2024-160304017.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/ai/global-emissions-due-to-ai-related-chipmaking-grew-more-than-four-times-in-2024-160304017.html?src=rssChcete-li přidat komentář, přihlaste se
Ostatní příspěvky v této skupině
As lawmakers, regulators call for social media companies to do more to protect the mental health of their youngest users, teens’ perception of social media also seems to be changing. A growing numb
Duolingo will soon add chess to its list of non-language courses, alongside
A VPN (virtual private network) can help you stay safe online and one of our top picks is c
Google Messages has started rolling out sensitive content warnings for nudit
Uber Shuttle is expanding to Atlanta. This is the company’s bus service that takes people to airports. Shuttle operations will launch in the region next month, delivering folks to and from Hartsfie
After that whole tariff tango, Nintendo is readying its North American pre-order system for the Switch 2. The original Switch 2 price will remain the same, $450, as will the original $500 for the N
