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Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

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Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#51

Post by defrost »

loeg wrote: post #48
vegetablepotpie wrote: post #28

The energy consumption would not be a problem if it was renewable energy . Ironically, we already have plenty of renewable energy in the US, it’s just there, sitting, waiting to be hooked up to the grid and not being used productively. The US currently has 947 GW of renewable generation capacity that is not hooked up to the grid [1]. To put that number into perspective, the US currently has 1160 GW of generation capa…

Data centers can't run on intermittent sources.

Why not?

What stops training AI's during sunlight hours only and hibernating as power decreases?

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#52

Post by loeg »

defrost wrote: post #51
loeg wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Data centers can't run on intermittent sources.

Why not? What stops training AI's during sunlight hours only and hibernating as power decreases?

Huge waste of CapEx for those expensive training GPUs if you can only use them 8 hours a day (same goes for all other data center hardware). Nevermind data availability and other hard problems if your DCs don't run 24/7.

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#53

Post by GeekyBear »

delish wrote: post #22

It is praiseworthy Microsoft straightforwardly reported the increase. I haven't paid attention to these kinds of optional disclosures. Never thought about it but were I asked I would have said these are advertisements. I don't dislike sustainability, but I thought those function as advertisements because you can expect to get more sustainability "for free" over time, because of many things (Moore's Law, ephemeralizat…

> It is praiseworthy Microsoft straightforwardly reported the increase.

Didn't they just learn a lesson about the additional bad press you can be subjected to if you try to hide the severity of your security issues instead of just owning up to what's happening?

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#55

Post by faeriechangling »

asabjorn wrote: post #45
faeriechangling wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you think of any ulterior motives behind the oligarch's actions? Such as how global warming is causing increasing insurance rates worldwide as both severe and more mundane weather events cause more and more property damage to their extensive property portfolios?

Let’a assume the hypothesis that they believe that to be true. Why would anyone that believe that shut off nuclear plants that emit zero CO2 in Germany and burn wood as well as gas instead?

I suppose that might be more related to left wing populism as embodied by the German Greens who worked for decades to get nuclear energy out of Germany. Also because the plants would have had to be decommissioned anyways and modern nuclear is not SO competitive for practical concerns to outweigh political expediency.

I truly don't think it was a result of the actions of a centralised oligarch elite that drove this anyways.

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#56

Post by MrVandemar »

To those who are drinking deep of the AI kool-aid, know this: this is not remotely sustainable.

Anyone who is thinking AI will replace writers and artists and voice-overs and who knows who else ... it's going to cost more money than you think, and it's all getting added to the considerable bill we're running up that will end up costing us everything.

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#57

Post by tadfisher »

asabjorn wrote: post #45
faeriechangling wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you think of any ulterior motives behind the oligarch's actions? Such as how global warming is causing increasing insurance rates worldwide as both severe and more mundane weather events cause more and more property damage to their extensive property portfolios?

Let’a assume the hypothesis that they believe that to be true. Why would anyone that believe that shut off nuclear plants that emit zero CO2 in Germany and burn wood as well as gas instead?

You can be right about AGW and still be a moron?

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#58

Post by jfim »

faeriechangling wrote: post #41
nozzlegear wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Microsoft have a history of buying fake carbon credits? And by that I mean, do they buy carbon credits from disreputable sources more often than reputable ones on average in recent years? Or do you simply believe that all carbon credit systems are fake?

I'm pretty firmly in the latter camp. Carbon credits essentially measure how much co2 emissions were prevented by the carbon credits existing. Not only is that pretty much impossible to measure, every company offering carbon credits at market rates is using a form of measurement which is BS. Carbon credit schemes may do SOMETHING to offset climate change but less than they advertise.

Gates is an investor in some carbon dioxide removal companies and seems to be involved in decarbonization, so at least he has an incentive to have Microsoft do the right thing.

That being said, maybe Microsoft won't, and will buy the low quality "we totally were going to cut this forest but now we won't pinky promise" kind of credits, but I'd at least give them the benefit of the doubt over the average greenwashing corporation.

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#59

Post by sanxiyn »

sircastor wrote: post #30
vegetablepotpie wrote: post #28

The energy consumption would not be a problem if it was renewable energy . Ironically, we already have plenty of renewable energy in the US, it’s just there, sitting, waiting to be hooked up to the grid and not being used productively. The US currently has 947 GW of renewable generation capacity that is not hooked up to the grid [1]. To put that number into perspective, the US currently has 1160 GW of generation capa…

So to be clear, this is just a bureaucracy issue?

Yes.

Re: Microsoft's Emissions Spike 29% as AI Gobbles Up Resources

#60

Post by Mawr »

ffhhj wrote: post #23
listless wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would be interesting if one of the major benefits of AI is it pushing us to clean energy

Clean energy until waste is hidden under the carpet for thousands of years.

Sure, we may be heading right into a massive climate crisis in the next few decades, but what about the hypothetical post-humans who will dig up spent nuclear fuel 10_000 years from now?!
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