Environmental groups use AI while weighing its resource costs
AI · First reported 7 Nov, 06:05 · Updated 06:19
Environmental organizations are applying AI to conservation and climate work, from identifying wildlife to alerting forest patrols. They also recognize that the data centers powering AI use substantial electricity and water, and some groups are trying to reduce those demands or questioning whether more data centers are needed.
- All 15 environmental, conservation and development organizations interviewed said they use AI in some form and raised concerns about data centers’ environmental impacts.
- Organizations described AI applications including wildfire alerts in Cambodia, wildlife surveys in Kenya and digitizing chimpanzee field notes in Tanzania.
- Some groups limit resource-intensive AI use or process data on devices in the field; Greenpeace said it is also questioning the need for more data centers.
Summary written by Lux AI from 2 articles
Key facts
- Organizations interviewed
- All 15 said they used AI in some form and expressed concern about data-center impacts.
- Projected data-center electricity use
- The International Energy Agency estimates about 945 terawatt-hours annually by 2030.
- Projected data-center water use
- The article reports an estimate rising from about 560 billion liters in 2023 to about 1.2 trillion liters annually by 2030.
- Elephant survey analysis
- About 200,000 images took nine people nine months to review manually; AI can complete similar analyses in hours.
- Chimpanzee field notes
- A project once expected to take 13–15 years is now expected to take about two years.
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