AI Literacy: A Toolkit for Educators & Students: AI and the environment
Introduction: AI & The Environment
While AI presents some solutions to the planet's climate crisis and other environmental issues, it concurrently exacerbates other issues, such as contributing to a dwindling fresh water supply. In this section, you will see opposing viewpoints on AI's impact on the environment.
Big Tech & The Environment
AI is not the the first tech-related environmental issue. In fact, data centers and technology waste contribute significantly to pollution and the climate crisis. Nevertheless, just like AI, technology has the potential to provide solutions to environmental issues. Understanding the pros and cons of technology's impact on the environment is crucial as researchers learn how to combat Earth's climate problems. Accordingly, the links provided in this box provide an overview of the the intersection of technology and the environment.
- How green are electric cars? | It's Complicated There's no denying that electric vehicles are what most of us will be driving in the near-future. Countries around the world have pledged to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles over the next few decades, in an effort to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
- Big Tech Versus Climate Change How tech companies and all of us can help slow global warming.
- The Staggering Ecological Impacts of Computation and the Cloud nthropologist Steven Gonzalez Monserrate draws on five years of research and ethnographic fieldwork in server farms to illustrate some of the diverse environmental impacts of data storage.
Cons: AI & The Environment
- AI programs consume large volumes of scarce water University of California - Riverside study finds that keeping servers powered & cool at cloud data processing centers has high water costs
- As Use of A.I. Soars, So Does the Energy and Water It Requires Generative artificial intelligence uses massive amounts of energy for computation and data storage and millions of gallons of water to cool the equipment at data centers. Now, legislators and regulators — in the U.S. and the EU — are starting to demand accountability.
- Tackling AI’s Climate Change Problem The AI industry could soon be one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions, if current trends continue.
- AI’s Growing Carbon Footprint hese days, the buzz is all about artificial intelligence (AI), computer systems that can sense their environment, think, learn, and act in response to their programmed objectives. Because of AI’s capabilities, there are many ways it can help combat climate change, but will its potential to aid decarbonization and adaptation outweigh the enormous amounts of energy it consumes? Or will AI’s growing carbon footprint put our climate goals out of reach?
- AI's Hidden Climate Costs "As the demand for artificial intelligence grows, so does its thirst for one of our planet’s most precious resources. Andrew Chang explores how the supercomputers that run AI stay cool — by using massive amounts of fresh, clean drinking water. "
Pros: AI & The Environment
- How Can Scientists Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Improve Predictions of River Water Quality? Managing water quality in rivers needs a new class of models that are enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
- WATER + AI: WATER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING EMPOWERED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Argonne leverages multidisciplinary teams, world-class facilities, powerful scientific tools and strategic partnerships to confront some of the most profound scientific and technological challenges for water-related science.
- Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Management of Drinking Water: A Narrative Review Peer-reviewed academic journal article
- AI for Earth: How NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Open Science Efforts Combat Climate Change "As extreme weather events increase around the world due to climate change, the need for further research into our warming planet has increased as well. For NASA, climate research involves not only conducting studies of these events, but also empowering outside researchers to do the same. The artificial intelligence (AI) efforts spearheaded by the agency offer a powerful tool to accomplish these goals."
- AI for Energy: Opportunities for a Modern Grid and Clean Energy Economy Report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)