undefined | Better HN

0 pointsJumpCrisscross4mo ago0 comments

> What I'm saying is that using gigawatts of power for "AI" in this day and age is madness

Why? American datacentres--of all types--use about 250 TWh per year, with another 500 TWh additional capacity expected by 2030 [1]. American paper manufacturing used about that much energy in 2018 [2].

[1] https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-demand-from...

[2] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/industry.p... 2,491tn BTUs ~ 730 TWh

0 comments

joelthelion4mo ago

If I read the data right (1) the US currently produces roughly 4,000 TWh of electricity every year. 500 TWh is a significant portion of that! The US will need a lot of additional capacity for things like electric cars and heat pumps. Most of the effort should be going towards that, not huge data centers attending to unproven demand (how many people will pay the real price for ChatGPT once the VC subsidy ends remains to be proven).

1: https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/united-states/electric...

pama4mo ago

The sources for some of the future data centers will be local and not necessarily influence the US grid. Consider also that cement production uses about 3000 TWh per year worldwide, and aluminium smelting uses about 1000 TWh per year.

joelthelion4mo ago

A lot of that cement production still uses fossil fuels.

In my mind, all the electricity production capacity we can build needs to go to the electrification of the existing economy, not new stuff and especially not the current brand of AI.

1 more reply

LunaSea4mo ago

Yes but American datacenters and industries are actually useful compared to AI.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsJumpCrisscross4mo ago0 comments

> What I'm saying is that using gigawatts of power for "AI" in this day and age is madness

[1] https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-demand-from...

[2] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/industry.p... 2,491tn BTUs ~ 730 TWh

0 comments

joelthelion4mo ago

1: https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/united-states/electric...

pama4mo ago

joelthelion4mo ago

A lot of that cement production still uses fossil fuels.

In my mind, all the electricity production capacity we can build needs to go to the electrification of the existing economy, not new stuff and especially not the current brand of AI.

1 more reply

LunaSea4mo ago

Yes but American datacenters and industries are actually useful compared to AI.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse