With the advent of new technologies, there are always periods of adjustment, issues that need to be addressed, and bugs to be fixed, even after the technologies have undergone rigorous testing. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the “new kid on the block” when it comes to technology, but it is quickly entrenching itself in our everyday lives. ChatGPT has become de rigueur, and AI-generated results are appearing with more frequency in Google search results. While AI has the capability to make our lives more efficient, minimize human errors, and better analyze data, there is a price to this increased productivity and efficiency, and it just might come at the cost of environment, the effects of which we here in Texas are beginning to feel.
After enduring massive power outages caused by Winter Storm Uri in 2021, and most recently the May derecho and Hurricane Beryl, Texans understandably lack confidence in the reliability of the electrical grid and electricity providers, in general. Adding to the destructive influences wrought by Mother Nature are the man-made technologies that drain the power needed to cool, heat, and light the homes of millions of people. The reliance placed upon these technologies to fuel and streamline our lives has perhaps caused us to overlook the negative impacts they have upon the environment, primarily increased energy consumption and carbon emissions. Recently, the Fort Worth City Council’s approval of a sprawling data center prompted Texas lawmakers to consider instituting more regulations to curb the development of new data centers.
The use of data centers is nothing new. “Texas is home to 10 of 34 large Bitcoin mines.” These “cryptocurrency mines” can use up to 2,600 megawatts of power to create new Bitcoins or other forms of cryptocurrency – the equivalent of the amount of power used by the City of Austin. Such energy usage doesn’t always sit well with residents who are called upon to conserve power at times of peak usage, like the summer and fall of 2023 when Texans were asked to limit their electricity usage 11 times. In addition, “[n]onrenewable energy production and electronic equipment manufacturing are both associated with the emission of greenhouse gases.” Moreover, for those residing near a mine, the noise generated by the facilities and the fans used to keep the electronic equipment cool can make their living situations unbearable and intolerable.
Cryptocurrency mining is not the only culprit. Cloud computing relies upon data centers for storage. Data that is backed up and saved to the cloud is stored on the computer servers that are housed in large data centers. These centers consume a significant of energy and “account for more than 1% of global energy use,” a percentage that will only increase in the coming years. Similarly, the proliferation of AI will only exacerbate the drain on the nation’s already-fragile electrical grid. For instance, “[a] ChatGPT query…uses ten times more energy than a standard Google query.” Furthermore, Google has already announced plans to invest more than $1 billion into data centers to support searches and AI here in Texas. While the increased investment is beneficial from a business perspective and can help serve the need for increased efficiency, the effect on the future health of our environment is less certain.