Research suggest data centers will emit 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gas by 2030

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20289663

A report from Morgan Stanley suggests the datacenter industry is on track to emit 2.5 billion tons by 2030, which is three times higher than the predictions if generative AI had not come into play.

The extra demand from GenAI will reportedly lead to a rise in emissions from 200 million tons this year to 600 million tons by 2030, thanks largely to the construction of more data centers to keep up with the demand for cloud services.

  • Fizz@lemmy.nzEnglish
    718·
    3 days ago

    This is posted every week with different numbers. I don’t care if data centers use a lot of electricity. They run very efficiently and are a necessity for our modern lives. You have no idea what is being run inside those data centers ai is so much more than chatgpt.

    • FlorianSimon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      103·
      3 days ago

      On behalf of all humans suffering from your tech bro arrogance: fuck you and your useless tech. I wish this kind of energy consumption becomes illegal, because it is criminal. Can’t wait for the bubble to finally pop.

      The article mentions generative AI btw, the kind that powers ShitGPT.

      • Specal@lemmy.worldEnglish
        48·
        3 days ago

        Ah yes, it’s tech bros that are killing the earth, nothing else, nuh uh couldn’t be anything else 😂 I don’t even like AI in it’s current form but you guys make me chuckle

        • FlorianSimon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          53·
          3 days ago

          Whataboutism at its finest 👌

          The difference with other things causing climate change is that some of these other things are actually useful and work, which is not the case with ShitGPT.

          And you can be mad at both simultaneously. You don’t have to decry LLMs only.

          • Specal@lemmy.worldEnglish
            12·
            2 days ago

            It’s not really whataboutism though is it, I’m just pointing out that there are alot bigger causes of climate change that can be dealt with immediately additionally to data centers but we don’t, because these things add a convenience to our lives. People could stop eating animal products, people can stop driving cars. I have, it’s easy.

            But people won’t, so I’m pissing my self laughing at this website crying about AI.

            And let’s add that electricity generation doesn’t have to be expensive and carbon intensive, we’ve chosen this course. We keep voting in government that love feeding money into the oil industry, then we get angry when people protest it by sitting on motorways or throwing paint at pieces of art that will be absolutely useless and worthless once society ends due to the climate crisis.

            But it’s fine, let’s believe misleading information like available in this article and cry about companies trying to revolutionise a piece of technology and carrot on eating off the oil Barron’s stick.

            • FlorianSimon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              3·
              2 days ago

              What if I told you that we can do all these things at once, and don’t have to pick just one. Mindblowing!

              Regarding the alternatives to fossil fuels, they still aren’t free as far as emissions go. It’s still better to not need a new source of power if you can, because they require minerals, fossil fuels, etc. to build.

              Also, an insane strain on the power grid makes the transition to greener sources of electricity more difficult because there’s a bigger demand to satisfy. That delays the transition.

              If you don’t like how “this website” talks about your garbage tech, maybe you can fuck off back to Reddit with the rest of the douchebags who still believe crypto has a future?