A new study shows that in the next four years, the AI industry’s annual energy consumption will be comparable to that of the Netherlands. In addition to power consumption, AI data centers also consume a large amount of water to cool the system. How exaggerated is the energy consumption of AI? A new study shows that in the next four years, the AI industry may consume about the same amount of energy annually as a country the size of the Netherlands.
Recently, a researcher from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam published an article in the famous academic journal "Joule" and pointed out that if some existing parameters remain unchanged and based on the number of GPUs expected to be delivered by Nvidia, it can be seen that the energy consumption range of the AI industry is 85-134 terawatt hours (TWh) per year, which is about 0.5% of the global annual electricity consumption, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption in the Netherlands.
It is worth pointing out that the authors of the paper stated that due to insufficient data currently disclosed by companies related to the AI industry, the conclusions drawn by the study are only speculative.
The authors also suggest that if AI growth slows, its impact on the environment may be smaller than feared.
Since the emergence of ChatGPT last year, major technology companies have rushed to launch AI-driven services. The demand for AI data centers continues to rise. Some data center contractors have gone from receiving inquiries once or twice a week to hundreds.
In addition to power consumption, AI data centers also consume a large amount of water to cool the system. However, the study did not address the energy required for cooling, and many large technology companies do not disclose energy or water consumption during AI training and operations.
Microsoft revealed in its latest environmental report that in 2022, the company's water consumption surged 34% year-on-year, a sharp increase from previous years, equivalent to the water volume of more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. External researchers believe this is related to Microsoft's artificial intelligence research.
The 2023 environmental report released by Google also shows that it consumed 21.2 billion liters of water in 2022, of which about 19.6 billion liters of water was used in data centers.
However, despite its high energy consumption, AI also plays a unique role in protecting the environment.
Google and American Airlines recently discovered that pilots can cut the amount of smoke (vapor trails) produced by planes in half by using an experimental AI tool to choose flying altitudes. Smoke is known to contribute to global warming.
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