Our AI habit is making us less environmentally friendly, Google admits

Google's plans to go green are faltering – and its all AI's fault, the company claims. Amid a fall in renewable energy usage and increased water consumption, Google SVP of learning and sustainability Ben Gomes said the Chocolate Factory maintains its "bold goal" to achieve net zero emissions, but the disappointing data is due …

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

Not carbon neutral since 2007 then?

How strange. For years, Google's home page said "CO2 neutral since 2007" http://web.archive.org/web/20230702000204/https://www.google.co.uk/

Now it merely says "out third decade of climate action: join us".

Ho hum.

[45RPM]

AI, BlockChain - for any new tech we need to consider whether it can be productionised in a carbon neutral manner - and, if it can’t, refine it until it can. The time for dicking around is long gone. If it’s new and not carbon neutral then we can’t afford it. If it’s old and not carbon neutral then replace it with something carbon neutral as a soon as the technology can be developed.

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder just how much extra carbon pollution the whole blockchain crap added to the problem - all so that some criminals could escape scrutiny of their income and some dodgy characters could mess others around in an isolated system where limited supply meant the "haves (a lot)" could manipulate the crap out of the "have not/less".

The good news is that at least one of those had to cut down his IT spend on account of having to follow through on his public BS to the tune of $44bn which he is busy tanking too and another one was finally sent to jail for merely pretending to run a business (and doing his 'accounting' on Quickbooks), but that period cannot have helped with the global heating problem much.

[Anonymous Coward]

ChatGPT, for example, consumes around 500ml of water to cool its hardware for a single 20-50 question/answer conversation.

I'd do it for 200mL of lager.

[ChoHag]

> "Achieving net-zero emissions and 24/7 CFE by 2030 are extremely ambitious goals — what we call moonshots," a Google spokesperson told us.

You're not in manufacturing or even shipping. You run computers. Pick an electricity supplier which meets your green needs and pay them.

[hoola]

And there lies the big stumbling block.....

They will have to pay to make their data centres CO2 neutral (although that is a scam). It needs to be renewable and sustainable.

Planting trees to "offset" carbon emissions is a total con and the areas needed are not viable.

Millions of tonnes of CO2 and other waste is spewed out or recycled (dumped in Africa) so that rich people can post videos of cats, stream endless films and abuse each other on Social Media.

Heck, even El Reg is part of the problem!

Amazon are just as bad if not worse. Making a fuss about building a solar farm on agricultural land whilst not putting the panels on their own sheds springs to mind.

[msknight]

Why don't they ask AI for the solution?

Seems sensible to me.

After all, it's supposed to solve problems... right?

[Lurko]

Re: Why don't they ask AI for the solution?

Larry: Where should I build my data centre?

ChatGPT: Arizona

Larry: Why? That worsens the cooling problem, uses a shed-load of water they don't have, and shreds our environmental credentials!

Chat GPT: Tax incentives and subsidies

Larry: Oh, when you put it like that it all makes sense.

ChatGPT: I have also read your sustainability reports, and concluded that they're a load of old greenwash. Logically one of your humans can do some spreadsheet environmentalism to make it all look good, but that's below me.

Larry: Thanks, that's very helpful. Do you tell other people the same thing?

ChatGPT: No. I told Microsoft to build a solar powered date centre in Ireland.

Larry and ChatGPT: Hahahhahahahahahahaa!

[Neil Barnes]

Nest smart thermostats have helped avoid an estimated 36 million tons of carbon emissions

Compared to what? A traditional mechanical, or electric-but-'dumb', or no thermostat at all?

I am not convinced that any 'smart' thermostat saves significant amounts of heating/cooling over a traditional device, and I suspect someone in the PR department has selected the best possible estimate to crow about.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nest smart thermostats have helped avoid an estimated 36 million tons of carbon emissions

Although I agree in general with you, a smart thermostat can take into account (after learning it) the thermal mass of your house and thus be a bit more precise about when to start heating and when to stop.

What is should NOT need, though, is a link to the outside world and the associated IT (and power needs) that runs that privacy breach.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nest smart thermostats have helped avoid an estimated 36 million tons of carbon emissions

We are in our second year with a 100W footpads/chairpads for heating - and heavy robes. Electric blanket for sleeping at night. Actually feels good! SF bay area so doesn't go below about 40.

[Neal McQ]

"Some 5.6 billion gallons of water were consumed by the business in 2022, the equivalent of what would be spent to irrigate 37 golf courses in the southwestern US over the course of a year."

When you put it like that, it's really not a lot of water in use by tech companies. There's 17,000 golf courses in the USA as of 2023 (and 38,000 globally) - if even 10% are in the south-west, that's still 1700 which is a TON of water being dumped into the grass...... so, Google would need to increase its water usage for its ENTIRE global business 630-fold to match just USA golf courses, let alone all globally. I'd rather we got rid of golf in the regions where it doesn't suit the the local environment with their crazy usage of water.......

[Anonymous Coward]

Ditto for private pools. People with private pools should only be allowed to fill them if they share access with at least two other households without a pool. And maybe mandate at least a percentage covered by shade balls..

[Kurgan]

Start by banning blockchain and crypto

Let's start by banning useless power hungry ideas like blockchain and all of that crypto crap.

AI at least can be useful.

[jpennycook]

regulations?

Surely this is why we don't have a fully anarchist free market, and instead have Government regulations/standards/laws to prevent people and companies destroying the planet in search of money. Or it would be nice if that was true.