‘Roadmap’ shows the environmental impact of AI data center boom | Cornell Chronicle

Researchers used advanced data analytics to create a state-by-state look at that environmental impact of the AI boom and how to make the computing infrastructure that supports it more sustainable.

As the everyday use of AI has exploded in recent years, so have the energy demands of the computing infrastructure that supports it. But the environmental toll of these large data centers, which suck up gigawatts of power and require vast amounts of water for cooling, has been too diffuse and difficult to quantify. Related Stories The robots are here. And they mean business. Research Matters: Learning from ‘the armpit of the internet’ Now, Cornell researchers have used advanced data analytics – and, naturally, some AI, too – to create a state-by-state look at that environmental impact. The tea

saved by

• Rakshita Jain

related reading

• AI has high data center energy costs — but there are solutions | MIT Sloanmitsloan.mit.edu
• Data Drain: The Land and Water Impacts of the AI Boom - Lincoln Institute of Land Policylincolninst.edu
• The multifaceted challenge of powering AI | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technologynews.mit.edu
• AI has an environmental problem. Here’s what the world can do about that.unep.org
• AI Finds "Game-Changing Solution" to Curb Climate Change While Humanity Failssustainability-times.com
• We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. | MIT Technology Reviewtechnologyreview.com
• Topic Overview: AI Energy Useepoch.ai
• AI’s Growing Carbon Footprint – State of the Planetnews.climate.columbia.edu
• Tackling AI’s Climate Change Problemsloanreview.mit.edu
• UN report warns AI could soon use 3% of world’s electricity and more water than we need to drinktheconversation.com
• Using ChatGPT is not bad for the environmentandymasley.substack.com
• Meet the companies using AI to reinvent the energy business | Fortunefortune.com