Sounds like we need some new training methods. If training could take place locally and asynchronously instead of globally through backpropagation, the amount of energy could probably be significantly reduced.
Trying to reduce energy consumption for ML like this is so silly.
Why are people so dumb when it comes to planning for the future? Does it require a 1973 oil crisis to make people concerned about potential issues? Why can't people be preventative instead of reactive? Isn't the entire point of an engineer to optimize what they're building for the good of humanity?