Tim BrayMar 13

RE: https://cosocial.ca/@evan/115580076628853324

This was posted 4 months ago, i.e. forever in LLM time. I would really like to see a fully-worked through analysis of the actual GHG cost of #GenAI in general and for coding applications specifically. Including, obviously, training, data centre infrastructure, silicon fabrication, etc.

The reason: I have trouble reconciling these numbers with the insane volumes of investment capital going into the space.

Show threadEvan ProdromouMar 13

@timbray my previous job was building greenhouse gas inventories.

Data centres are responsible for about 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. AI is responsible for about 15% of the data centre emissions, or about 0.15% of global emissions.

People who talk about AI burning up the planet don't spend a lot of time thinking about what's really burning up the planet: fossil fuels for transportation and heating, deforestation, and cattle.

Show threaddr2chaseMar 13
@evan @timbray I’ve started to suspect that every eco-moral-panic around something that isn’t cars/trucks or beef is quietly promoted by big fossil or big ag as a deflection. Remember plastic straws?
Show threadEvan ProdromouMar 13
@dr2chase @timbray we don't have very good public education about GHG emissions, especially from different sectors. The press make a lot of apples-to-oranges comparisons that are hard for people to grasp in isolation, like saying that the fashion industry is responsible for more emissions than the EU.
Show threadEvan ProdromouMar 13
@dr2chase @timbray is that a lot? A little? Does that count clothing made in the EU?
Show threadEvan ProdromouMar 13

@dr2chase @timbray when we slice the pie geographically, but also by activity, and also by economic sector, it can get confusing.

For example, livestock account for about 10-15% of GHG emissions. Part of that is because they fart and burp and shit everywhere, creating a lot of methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases. But another part is because we destroy a lot of forests to make pastureland, taking out an important sink for CO2. Yet another part is processing and transportation.

Show threadEvan ProdromouMar 13
@dr2chase @timbray when you break that down by activity type, you'd put the different contributions in different buckets: livestock cultivation, deforestation, industrial processes, transportation. It's only when you look at the full economic sector that you get the combined numbers.
Show threadEvan Prodromou
@dr2chase @timbray if you look at the US GHG inventory, it's broken down by activity. So it's hard to see what contribution comes from furniture, from movies, from the wine industry. Their contributions are split across different activities.
Mar 13 at 6:08pmWeb