[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions spiked by nearly 50 percent in the last five years thanks to energy-guzzling data centers required to power artificial intelligence, according to the company\u2019s 2024 Environmental Report <\/a> on Tuesday. The report, which Google releases annually, shows the company\u2019s progress towards meeting its self-proclaimed objective of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.<\/p>\n Google released 14.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023, the report states, which was 48 percent higher than in 2019, and 13 percent higher than a year before. \u201cThis result is primarily due to increases in data center energy consumption and supply chain emissions,\u201d said Google in the report. \u201cAs we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands associated with the expected increases in our technical infrastructure investment.\u201d<\/p>\n Google\u2019s report spotlights the environmental impact that the explosion of artificial intelligence has had on the planet. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Apple and other tech companies plan to pour billions of dollars into AI, but training AI models requires enormous amounts of energy. Using AI features uses significant amounts of energy too. In 2023, researchers at AI startup Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University <\/a> that generating a single image using artificial intelligence can use as much energy as charging a smartphone. Analysts at Bernstein said that AI would \u201cdouble the rate of US electricity demand growth and total consumption could outstrip current supply in the next two years,\u201d the Financial Times<\/em> <\/a>. Last month, Microsoft, which also pledged to go \u201ccarbon negative\u201d by the end of this decade, <\/a> that its greenhouse gas emissions had risen nearly 30 percent since 2020 due to the construction of data centers.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s report said that the company\u2019s data centers were using way more water than before to stay cool as a result of expanded AI workloads. Some of those workloads so far have involved Google Search <\/a> that people eat rocks and put glue on their pizza to prevent the cheese from falling off, as well as Gemini, the company\u2019s AI-powered chatbot, generating images of <\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2023, Google\u2019s data centers consumed 17 percent more water than the year before. That\u2019s 6.1 billion liters, enough to irrigate approximately 41 golf courses annually in the southwestern United States, according to the company\u2019s strangely kooky measure.<\/p>\n \u201cAs our business and industry continue to evolve, we expect our total GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions to rise before dropping toward our absolute emissions reduction target,\u201d Google\u2019s report stated, without explaining what would precipitate the drop. \u201cPredicting the future environmental impact of AI is complex and evolving, and our historical trends likely don\u2019t fully capture AI\u2019s future trajectory. As we deeply integrate AI across our product portfolio, the distinction between AI and other workloads will not be meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n