When Cornell University systems engineer Fengqi You started modeling the environmental footprint of data centers three years ago, the AI boom was just beginning. Even then, You and his colleagues noticed something missing from the conversation.
“It was clear it would have to be aligned with power-grid planning, with water and other resource planning. There were no discussions about these topics—but we wanted to bring real numbers, rigorous analysis on AI’s physical footprints.”
You and his team’s new paper, published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, delivers those numbers—and they’re enormous. Depending on how fast the AI industry expands, the authors predict U.S. data centers could annually consume as much water as 10 million Americans and emit as much carbon dioxide as 10 million cars. Those estimates put the annual resource consumption of the AI industry in the range of the entire state of New York.
The paper’s findings arrive amid escalating alarm over AI’s growing appetite for electricity and resources. With utilities rushing to build new gas-fired power plants in order to support the power demands of AI projects, environmental experts have warned that data centers could upend progress toward reigning in emissions.
A report released last month by the Center for Biological Diversity estimated that, if current trends continue, data centers in the United States could account for nearly half of all emissions from the power sector that current national climate targets would allow.
The report warned that “because of expected fossil fuel–reliant AI data center growth, all other electricity-consuming sectors would need to increase their carbon-emissions cuts by 60%” in order to still meet the United States’ 2035 climate target.
Jean Su, one of the report’s authors, told ICN that despite the current obsession with AI, “unfettered data center growth is not an inevitability.”
“Technology optimists are saying AI is going to solve the climate emergency and cure cancer,” Su said. “But the way to actually resolve the climate emergency is to phase out fossil fuels. Scientists have already told us how to do it, we don’t need AI, we just need political will.”
So to maintain AI supremacy the US will now phase out all climate targets and begin the great AI vs Climate Collapse race.
People around the world will be on tenterhooks as they see AI get out to an early lead as politicians fire anyone who can call out the ever so subtle “Unprecedented Events”.
Gaze in wonder as climate strikes back by disrupting society with apocalyptic weather events to attempt supply chain disruption.
Watch in rapt disgust as the AI instructs the puppet like mouth pieces to pay lip service to citizens while doubling down on supply and logistic support while restricting the publics access to the same.
AI vs Climate Collapse: No matter who wins we lose