Below is an excerpt from an absurdly hopeful article about plans for developing “green concrete” to keep up with the AI-driven data center building boom.
_________________________________
The United States is home to more than 5,000 data centers today, and the Department of Commerce forecasts that number to grow by around 450 a year through 2030.
Concrete is a major ingredient in data center construction — and is also a major contributor to climate change, accounting for around 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Data centers use so much concrete that the AI building boom is wrecking tech giants’ commitments to eliminate their carbon emissions.
Last year, Microsoft’s carbon emissions jumped by over 30%, primarily due to the materials in its new data centers. Google’s greenhouse emissions are up by nearly 50% over the past five years. As data centers proliferate worldwide, Morgan Stanley projects that data centers will release about 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 each year by 2030 — or about 40% of what the United States currently emits from all sources.
_________________________________
In a masterpiece of greenwashing, the article tries to put a happy face on everything, with section headings like these:
😃 “1,000 Companies Working on Green Concrete”
😃 “Better Cement Through Chemistry”
😃 “Software Takes on the Hard Problem of Concrete”
😃 “Cement Plants That Capture Carbon”
😃 “A Sustainable Foundation for the Information Age”
And somehow, oblivious to the crazy irony, this article actually touts AI itself as part of the solution!! 🤦♂️
➡️ https://spectrum.ieee.org/green-concrete
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Greenwashing
_________________________________
The United States is home to more than 5,000 data centers today, and the Department of Commerce forecasts that number to grow by around 450 a year through 2030.
Concrete is a major ingredient in data center construction — and is also a major contributor to climate change, accounting for around 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Data centers use so much concrete that the AI building boom is wrecking tech giants’ commitments to eliminate their carbon emissions.
Last year, Microsoft’s carbon emissions jumped by over 30%, primarily due to the materials in its new data centers. Google’s greenhouse emissions are up by nearly 50% over the past five years. As data centers proliferate worldwide, Morgan Stanley projects that data centers will release about 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 each year by 2030 — or about 40% of what the United States currently emits from all sources.
_________________________________
In a masterpiece of greenwashing, the article tries to put a happy face on everything, with section headings like these:
😃 “1,000 Companies Working on Green Concrete”
😃 “Better Cement Through Chemistry”
😃 “Software Takes on the Hard Problem of Concrete”
😃 “Cement Plants That Capture Carbon”
😃 “A Sustainable Foundation for the Information Age”
And somehow, oblivious to the crazy irony, this article actually touts AI itself as part of the solution!! 🤦♂️
➡️ https://spectrum.ieee.org/green-concrete
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Greenwashing
The AI Boom Rests on Billions of Tonnes of Concrete
Big data means big concrete. And that’s undoing tech’s climate pledgesTed C. Fishman (IEEE Spectrum)
