ur insatiable appetite for web-based services and streaming platforms has required the construction of ever more powerful data centers, all of which need more and more electricity to operate. Managing that growing demand adds to the challenge of slashing carbon emissions from the grid. Some estimates see energy needs for data centers, accounting for 7.5% of U.S. energy consumption. The surge in controversial cryptocurrency mining is part of that, as is the fast-emerging AI industry. The U.S.
As for AI, ChatGPT’s Sam Altman acknowledged that its vast computer networks and high-powered chips are going to need ever more electricity to achieve all that he envisions. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month,that “we still don’t appreciate the energy needs of this technology” and that an energy breakthrough was probably necessary for AI. Until then, the growth of power-hungry AI-enabled tech may already be slowing efforts to shutterabout how rapidly that industry will grow. U.S.