The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has been hailed as a revolutionary breakthrough, transforming the way we live and work. However, beneath the surface of this technological boom lies a sinister reality: AI is consuming vast amounts of energy and water, contributing to a climate crisis that threatens the very fabric of our planet.
Since 2022, AI has experienced exponential growth, leading to a surge in energy consumption. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are racing to build massive data centers to keep up with the demand, which are expected to consume as much as 12% of the nation’s electricity by 2028. Moreover, AI is also driving a surge in water consumption, with some estimates suggesting that it uses an astonishing amount of water. The environmental impact of AI is a concern echoed across social media, with many experts warning that the industry’s growing water and carbon footprint are unsustainable.
The construction of new data centers is only going to increase, with President Trump announcing a private joint venture to build 20 large data centers across the country. This project, known as Stargate, would consume 15 gigawatts of power, equivalent to the energy needs of 15 new Philadelphia-sized cities. To address this problem, the tech industry is turning to nuclear energy, with companies like Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet signing agreements to purchase nuclear energy.
Another solution being explored is the use of liquid cooling in data centers. This innovative method involves running a synthetic fluid through the hottest parts of the server to take the heat away, making it a much faster and more efficient way to cool off hot computers. Companies like Iceotope are pioneering this technology, which has the potential to significantly reduce the energy consumption of data centers. A third solution being explored is the use of smaller AI models, which are less energy-intensive than their larger counterparts. Companies like DeepSeek are developing chatbots that use less energy, and some tech companies are experimenting with smaller language models that are trained for specific tasks.
Despite these efforts, the tech industry is still grappling with the scale of the problem. The construction of new data centers is only going to increase, and the industry’s growing water and carbon footprint are unsustainable. As Sasha Luccioni, a researcher at Hugging Face, notes, “We’re having a lot of trouble getting buy-in from companies… There’s, like, such a blanket ban on any kind of transparency because it could either, like, make you look bad, open you up for whatever legal action or just kind of give people a sneak peek behind the curtain.”