Business · The Guardian Technology
UK departments at odds over energy demands of AI datacentres
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One vision of the UK’s future involves a decarbonised economy powered by clean, renewable energy.
Key facts
- Posted online, it said: “The UK’s cumulative 10-year greenhouse gas emissions from AI compute could range from 34 to 123 MtCO₂ – this is around 0.9-3.4% of the UK’s projected total emissions
- Originally, DSIT’s projections for the carbon emissions of additional AI computing capacity were between 0.025m and 0.142m tonnes of carbon equivalent (MtCO₂) – below 0.05% of Britain’s projected
- The forecasts appear to project that the energy use of the entire sector will grow by 528MW between 2025 and 2030 – equivalent to adding the consumption of 1.7m homes by the end of the decade
- The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) thinks AI datacentres will consume 6GW of electricity by 2030
Summary
The government departments responsible for these two visions do not appear to have agreed on their numbers. The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) thinks AI datacentres will consume 6GW of electricity by 2030. Tim Squirrell, the head of strategy for the NGO Foxglove, said: “The government’s cluelessness over the environmental impact of datacentres would be laughable, if it weren’t so alarming.” Cecilia Rikap, a researcher at University College London, said: “There are two ways to interpret this ‘misalignment’: either DESNZ and DSIT are incompetent, or there’s some kind of magical thinking about AI and big tech.