AI needs more natural gas or nuclear power
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
AI needs more natural gas. Or nuclear. Or both.
Wind and solar are intermittent and unreliable, and are not suitable baseline electricity for AI data centers which require “always on” electrical power.
A conundrum for many Eco Warriors.
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“Artificial intelligence is vital to the next wave of innovations in technology and entrepreneurship.
ChatGPT’s launch at the end of 2022 caught the public’s attention, but AI has already infiltrated major industries.
Fifty percent of global organizations reported adopting AI in at least one business area in 2022.
… A fundamental bottleneck to the future of AI in the United States, however, is its immense energy demand.
The technology is projected to require seven times more power than New York City’s annual electricity consumption by 2030.
This is because each AI Google search needs 10 times the amount of energy of a normal Google search.
Natural gas is projected to supply 60% of the energy demand, with renewables taking the other 40% by 2030, according to a Goldman Sachs report.
This is on top of the already massive 60% expansion of the power grid that Princeton University says is needed to meet aggressive net-zero goals. …”