By C. Perera, JadeTimes News
According to its latest environmental report, Google's greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 were 48% higher than in 2019. The tech giant attributes this increase to the rising energy demands of its data centers, driven by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence .
AI powered services require significantly more computing power and consequently more electricity than standard online activities, leading to concerns about the technology's environmental impact. Google aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 but acknowledges that integrating AI into its products could make reducing emissions challenging.
Google's 2024 Environmental Report highlights the "increasing energy demands from the greater intensity of AI compute" as a key factor. Data centers, which house massive collections of computer servers, are essential for AI operations and require substantial energy.
A recent study suggests that generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, may consume approximately 33 times more energy than machines running task specific software. However, Google's report also reveals significant regional disparities in the environmental impacts of its data centers. While most data centers in Europe and the Americas source the majority of their energy from carbon free sources, those in the Middle East, Asia, and Australia rely far less on such energy.
Overall, Google states that about two thirds of its energy is derived from carbon free sources. Tom Jackson, professor of information and knowledge management at Loughborough University, points out that data centers are "really hot and really noisy," emphasizing the often overlooked impact of cloud storage on one's digital carbon footprint.
Professor Jackson, who leads the Digital Decarbonisation Design Group, advocates for reducing the carbon footprint of data usage. He stresses the importance of data providers collaborating with large organizations to minimize the storage of dark data data collected but rarely or never used which still consumes energy even when idle. On average, 65% of an organization's stored data is dark data.
While Professor Jackson praises Google's target of net zero data centers by 2030, he acknowledges the difficulty of achieving this goal. The increasing energy and water consumption of AI has led to multiple warnings, especially given the sector's projected rapid growth.
In March, the head of the UK's National Grid predicted a six fold surge in energy demand over the next decade due to AI and quantum computing. Conversely, Microsoft co founder Bill Gates recently downplayed AI's environmental impact, estimating that AI would increase electricity demand by 2% to 6%. Gates argued that AI would likely drive more than a 6% reduction in other areas, as reported by the Financial Times.