As artificial intelligence transitions from a novelty to the backbone of global industry, its environmental footprint has moved to the center of the climate debate. This post explores the "Sustainability Paradox" emerging in 2025: while a single AI-generated video can consume as much energy as running a household microwave for an hour, the same technology is driving unprecedented efficiencies in global logistics, education, and supply chain transparency.
We examine the drastic measures "Big Tech" is taking to bridge this energy gap—highlighting Google’s landmark shift toward small modular nuclear reactors and Microsoft’s massive "AI factories"—alongside grassroots efforts to expose the shortcomings of traditional recycling through GPS tracking. From the carbon-saving potential of digital testing to the high-voltage thrill of cable-free electric vehicles, we analyze whether the digital revolution is accelerating our climate goals or simply moving the goalposts.
Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Sustainability, Carbon Footprint, Google Nuclear Energy, Digital Product Passports, AI Energy Consumption, Microsoft Fairwater, Green Tech, Climate Innovation, Supply Chain Transparency, Renewable Energy, Circular Econom
The Future of Sustainability - How Digital Product Passports are Revolutionizing Supply Chains Steve Clouther Fri, 08/30/2024 - 13:41 Read more about The Future of Sustainability - How Digital Product Passports are Revolutionizing Supply Chains Digital Product Passports (DPPs) offer a method to track products through their entire...
Dropping one of Apple's GPS AirTags into the trash may seem like a major error, but it could be key to unlocking the false, climate-forward promises of city leaders and corporations.Earlier this year, Brandy Deason, a Texas resident and climate justice coordinator for Air Alliance Houston, began dropping the small devices into every bag of recycling...
Imagine you're buying a new laptop. You come across a model that can do some pretty nifty stuff, but uses many times more electricity than your current laptop. (Ten times? Thirty times? No salesman can give you the exact number, because it's a company secret.) Oh yeah, and this laptop comes with a funnel on top; every time you ask it for a joke, or...
For the first time in history, a private citizen has left the confines of a spaceship while flying through space — an exercise that before now was only performed by trained astronauts. The unprecedented commercial spacewalk was part of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, which sent four civilians into orbit to test the company's new spacesuits. Tech magnate...
The motor-racing organization wants to draw insights to further drive IT efficiencies and cut its carbon footprint.
Google is going nuclear — literally. The search engine giant is set to buy a fleet of mini nuclear reactors in a "world's first" corporate energy deal. SEE ALSO: Apple study reveals major AI flaw in OpenAI, Google, and Meta LLMs SEE ALSO: How much is AI hurting...
Climate Interactive, Feb 28, 2025 As Alan Levine reports, "En‑ROADS is a global climate simulator that allows users to explore the impact that dozens of policies - such as electrifying transport, pricing carbon, and improving agricultural practices - have on hundreds of factors like energy prices, temperature,...
That question you just asked ChatGPT might've used as much energy as an LED bulb running for 45 minutes.
Hannah Ritchie, Sustainability by numbers, May 06, 2025 I've made this point a bunch of times, but as Simon Willison says, "here's a follow-up by someone with a whole lot more credibility than myself." Long story short: ChatGPT generates a much smaller carbon footprint than you may have been led to believe....
You've probably heard that statistic that every search on ChatGPT uses the equivalent of a bottle of water. And while that's technically true, it misses some of the nuance. The MIT Technology Review dropped a massive report that reveals how the artificial intelligence industry uses energy — and exactly how much energy it costs to use a service like...
Sarah Downey, Jun 11, 2025 I've mentioned the ChatGPT-vs-coffee dilemma based on my own calculations in the past, and in this article Sarah Downey uses actual vetted numbers to compare the energy cost of ChatGPT with a number of other activities, including coffee and airline flights (nothing like someone...
The PIE News, Jun 25, 2025 Duolingo has taken a lot of criticism recently for its use of AI but I think it's raising a valid counterargument here: "traditional, in-person English tests generate an average of 14.3kg of CO₂e per test. By contrast, a remote digital test produces just 0.16kg of CO₂e, highlighting...
This week we have introduced a wave of purpose-built datacenters and infrastructure investments we are making around the world to support the global adoption of cutting-edge AI workloads and cloud services. Today in Wisconsin we introduced Fairwater, our newest US AI datacenter, the largest and most sophisticated AI factory we’ve built yet. In addition...
Porsche's largest SUV, the Cayenne, has finally turned electric, and it's got a few tricks up its sleeve. Perhaps most importantly, it's wickedly quick. The fastest variant, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo Electric, has up to 850kW (that's 1,156 horsepower) of power, allowing it to go from 0-100 km\/h in 2.5 seconds, and from 0-200 km/h in 7.4 seconds, with...
The Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus is a high-capacity, solar-ready power station built to keep your home running. Here's how it fared in mine.
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