#sustainability (20 results)

Germany’s Data Center Boom is Pushing the Power Grid to its Limits

As Europe pursues the vision of becoming an AI continent, the AI infrastructure boom in Germany is already exposing the limits of the energy supply and physical infrastructure. And the question remains: What price will society and consumers ultimately pay?

Topic overview

Resource consumption of AI: The insatiable industry and its costs

Artificial intelligence does not simply fall from the sky. Its development, hardware production and everyday operation consume vast amounts of electricity, water and other resources. Yet tech companies remain reluctant to disclose the true costs to people and the environment. Here, we provide an overview of the issue.

How to Resist Data Centers: A Guide For Local Communities in Europe

As data centers proliferate across the globe, local groups are mobilising to document the severe harm these facilities inflict on their regions and the immense strain they place on energy resources. We have compiled a set of practical steps that communities can take to educate themselves when a data center is planned in their area, and to address its potential impacts.

Infrastructure or Intrusion? Europe’s Conflicted Data Center Expansion

Data centers, cornerstones of the EU’s digital ambitions, are expanding rapidly across the continent. Public responses to this digital prioritization vary dramatically. Some communities embrace them as engines of development; others push back, citing threats to the environment and their quality of life.

What Are Green Algorithms Anyway?

European governments are encouraging the development of so-called “green” algorithms and “green” AI. The term is ambiguous: they are not always meant as systems designed to be sustainable.

Explainer: AI Energy Consumption

Fighting the Power Deficiency: The AI Energy Crisis

Is AI contributing to solving the climate crisis or to making it worse? Either way, the increase in AI applications goes hand in hand with the need for additional data centers, for which energy resources are currently lacking.

Explainer: AI & Sustainability

Sustainable AI: A Contradiction in Terms?

Does Artificial Intelligence (AI) help tackle the climate crisis or is it an environmental sin worse than flying? We explain how much energy AI systems really consume, why we need better measurements, how AI can become more sustainable, and what all this has to do with the EU's AI Act.

Stance

If the UN wants to help humanity, it should not fall for AI hype

How should the international governance of AI look like? This is the thorny question the UN Secretary General’s AI Advisory Body tries to address in its first interim report. We have highlighted some concerning aspects of the report in a recent consultation process.

Policy Brief

Taking (Policy) Action to Enhance the Sustainability of AI Systems

With more and more resources being expended on developing and applying Artificial Intelligence technologies, it is increasingly important to understand the impact these technologies are having on the environment. Our report recommends how to make crucial information about such technologies publicly available.

AI and Sustainability

SustAIn Magazine #3 – A Different Take on AI: We Decide What AI Has To Do for Us

The third and final issue of the SustAIn magazine deals with the question of who could take responsibility for steering AI development in the right direction.

The AI Mobility Revolution in the Countryside: Optimism versus Reality

Frieder Schmelzle from the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) gives an overview of the current mobility and digital strategies of the German state governments on the issue of public transport connections in rural regions. Great expectations lie on the automation of local transport. However, this overshadows more fundamental questions about sustainable mobility in rural areas.

The Opportunities and Risks of AI in Energy Supply

Interview on the use of AI in energy supply with Friederike Rohde and Josephin Wagner from the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW).

With Google as My Neighbor, Will There Still Be Water?

Interview with Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé from the Centre of Governance and Human Rights at the University of Cambridge on activist groups protesting the harmful environmental impacts of data centers.

AI and the Challenge of Sustainability: The SustAIn Magazine’s new edition

In the second issue of our SustAIn Magazine, we show what prevents AI systems from being sustainable and how to find better solutions.

New magazine on how sustainable AI can be put into practice

The environmental, social and economic sustainability costs of AI urgently need to be addressed by academia, industry, civil society and policy makers – based on evidence. With the first edition of our SustAIn magazine, we hope to fuel this debate.

A Milestone in the AI Act negotiations

On April 21st, the much-awaited IMCO-LIBE draft report on the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), produced by the European Parliament lead negotiators Brando Benifei and Dragoș Tudorache, was finally disclosed – a major milestone in the AI Act negotiations. While we are preparing a detailed analysis in collaboration with our partners, we share below our first take on the draft report.

Sustainability criteria for Artificial Intelligence – evaluation approach presented

The sustainability of AI systems is sometimes not in good shape. Among other things, AI systems are discussed for issues relating to discrimination, high energy and resource consumption, as well as the reproduction of social inequalities. In a new publication, the "SustAIn" project has presented comprehensive criteria for a systematic sustainability assessment of AI-based systems – eventually with the aim to promote more sustainable AI.

SustAIn: The Sustainability Index for Artificial Intelligence

How sustainable is Artificial Intelligence? At this point in time, we are aware that a lot of energy is needed in the development and application of AI, that so-called click workers classify data sets for training AI systems under very poor working conditions and that these systems quite often reinforce existing patterns of discrimination. In view of an increasing number of AI systems in use, there is an urgent need to discuss how AI can be made more sustainable. This is where our project SustAIn comes in.

Can AI mitigate the climate crisis? Not really.

Several institutions claim that AI will contribute to solving the climate crisis, but evidence is scant. On the contrary, AI has a track record of helping emit more greenhouse gases.

Estonia: A city is automating homes to reduce energy consumption

The city of Tartu installed automated systems in old housing blocks. Using nudges, sensors and automated decision-making, it hopes to reduce energy consumption by two-thirds.