AI and the Environment
Electricity used to train and run AI; water used by some data-centre cooling systems; possible environmental uses such as forest monitoring and renewable-energy forecasting; comparing costs and actual benefits
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain that training and running AI use electricity, and that some data centres use water for cooling
- Give at least two examples of AI being used to help the environment
- Describe the trade-off between AI's environmental cost and its environmental benefits
1 · Read
You have learned that AI models train on examples. Computers use electricity while training a model and while running it afterwards. Training a large model can take a lot of electricity. Smaller jobs can use much less. The amount depends on the model, equipment and task.
Data centres house computing equipment. Their computers use electricity and produce heat. Some cooling systems use water to remove heat; others use different methods. Water use depends on the place and cooling system. Making the computers also uses resources. These costs matter when judging an AI project.
AI can compare satellite pictures and flag places where forest cover may have changed. People then check those places. A flag is a clue, not proof of why trees disappeared. This can help people investigate forest loss, but flagging a change does not itself stop the loss.
AI can use learned weather patterns and new observations to predict conditions. Updating a forecast uses new observations; copying an old forecast unchanged does not. Forecasts of wind and sunlight can help power companies plan for changing wind and solar electricity supplies. Forecasts can be mistaken, so people check them. Better information may help companies use available renewable electricity. It does not guarantee that fossil fuels will be replaced.
Compare a project's environmental costs with its actual benefits. Count resources used to build and run it, then check its results. For a crop-watering tool, measure water saved and water used, and consider electricity and equipment too. A useful prediction alone does not prove that the whole project saves resources.
AI uses electricity and can have other resource costs. It may help environmental work. Compare a project's total costs with its actual benefits.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.