How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
ourworldindata.org
How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
1–10 of 78 posts
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#2I think its easy to forget how much energy is required to boil a liter of water, and these charts are a great reminder of the mundane things like that which escape our attention.
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#3Select quote:
* 5% of electricity in the United States is used to power data centers. For AI-focused ones specifically, it’s probably around 2%.*
I think it’s massive.
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#4The author claims it's surprising that AI uses less electricity than the rest of data centers. Why?? Data centers do a million different things other than AI
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#5The author claims it's surprising that AI uses less electricity than the rest of data centers. Why?? Data centers do a million different things other than AI
AI hardware is much, much more powerhungry than traditional processors though. I can understand their reasoning.
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#6The author claims it's surprising that AI uses less electricity than the rest of data centers. Why?? Data centers do a million different things other than AI
AI hardware is much, much more powerhungry than traditional processors though. I can understand their reasoning.
Sure, but it's still surprising that 1/3 of all data centers in the whole world are dedicated to that one use.
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#7The author claims it's surprising that AI uses less electricity than the rest of data centers. Why?? Data centers do a million different things other than AI
It's surprising because that's all anyone hears about right now.
Many are surprised to learn that data centers use much less water than golf courses or pools. We hear about it so much in the news it sounds like it's the overwhelming largest consumption problem around.
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#8Our World in Data is great, but this article would've been improved if it offered a chart that offered a comparison to it's leading "1.5% of global electricity number".
For example: 7% to 10% of all global electricity is consumed by air conditioning. It's not hard to think of relatively small interventions that could save 1.5% of global energy use annually.
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#9The author claims it's surprising that AI uses less electricity than the rest of data centers. Why?? Data centers do a million different things other than AI
It's surprising because that's all anyone hears about right now. Many are surprised to learn that data centers use much less water than golf courses or pools. We hear about it so much in the news it sounds like it's the overwhelming largest consumption problem around.
If they use so little water and power, why aren't they being built in the empty office buildings? Seems like commercial real estate was made for ... commercial activity.
Re: How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
#10I'm dismayed by the current political discourse on this topic. Seems like the two camps are 1) let mega corps build data centers with impunity or 2) use NIMBY tactics to oppose them in all cases.
I want to see a pro-growth approach that makes the mega corps assume the costs of their negative externalities. I want to see an increased build out of renewable and nuclear energy sources. I want to see environmental protections in place to limit impacts on aquifers and other water sources.
Democracies don't handle nuance well.