The world is witnessing the transformative power of AI across society in real time. We’re seeing it revolutionize areas like health care, agriculture, education, and finance. It also has the potential to drive sustainability efforts across various sectors, building on decades of improvements in efficiency and paving the way for greener practices.
Even better, AI can do all of this while operating at peak efficiency and with minimal resource use. To realize this potential, governments and industry must work together to foster an innovation-friendly setting that continues to maximize AI’s immense benefits while reducing its environmental impact by building a reliable, resilient, and modern infrastructure.
It’s true that when we use AI to transform things like farming, medical tests, and manufacturing, we’re going to need energy to perform these new computing tasks. This ongoing revolution, coupled with broader societal trends to digitize and electrify many aspects of our lives has played a role in the recent growth in energy consumption, heightening energy needs and highlighting the challenge of striking the right balance between innovation and resource management.
Take data centers, for example. These facilities are the backbone of the internet, and essential for powering existing commonplace technologies such as video conferencing, online gaming, and streaming movies, as well as more complex AI systems and other emerging technologies. Data centers are also a fast–growing sector; currently accounting for 2% of US electricity consumption – a figure that’s expected to double in near term to keep up with rising demand.
To continue to achieve the same economic and technological growth we’ve seen in prior decades, we need to propel the next generation of technological advancements – like the crucial services provided through global networks of data centers – in a more efficient and effective way. Doing so will depend on a strong partnership between the public and private sectors that prioritizes innovation and incentivizes competition.
Recognizing data centers’ increasing energy use, industry has made strides to make them more efficient though advances in hardware, software, and virtualization – driven in part by AI. At the same time, the U.S. government is working to address this challenge. In a recent conversation I had with Carla Frisch, the Acting Executive Director and Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Policy during Climate Week NYC, she noted areas where government is stepping in. “A lot of our programs are designed to fill a problem space,” she said, noting the resources the federal government has to help industry experts leverage government insights to make way for more sustainable practices, including tax credits for energy efficiency efforts and the National Data Center Energy Efficiency Program.
Put differently, the Department of Energy is actively taking steps to reduce barriers to innovation and encourage competition. Looking beyond data centers, worldwide governments and industry must apply this ingenuity to all facets of technology to maximize opportunities and address challenges when it comes to sustainability.
As part of that effort, companies at the forefront of the rapid adoption of AI and other emerging technologies are urging policymakers across the globe to consider policies that realize our shared environmental goals while advancing transformative AI technology. That includes focusing on modernizing the grid by simplifying permitting, encouraging private investment in grid technologies, and backing research and development efforts.
Policymakers should also advance carbon-free technologies through AI-driven programs, streamline nuclear reactor licensing, and establish public-private partnerships for safe tech development. For example, grid optimization is an area with abundant opportunities for AI technologies to enhance sustainability. In addition, machine learning is a well-suited tool for forecasting fluctuations in supply and demand and providing inputs into AI-based algorithms that dynamically balance the load on the grid and enable consumers to benefit from energy-saving initiatives. These further demonstrate an opportunity for government-led regulatory framework coupled with access to data enabling private sector technological solutions that will ultimately improve efficiency, reduce the carbon footprint, and improve the overall reliability of a critical element of infrastructure.
Throughout this process, supporting efforts to increase resource efficiency, enhance grid stability, and grow renewable energy — through innovative cooling solutions, standardized sustainability reporting, and consistent environmental impact measures — will be key.
As we push the boundaries of AI innovation, it’s vital for policymakers and industry leaders to work together on advancing these key initiatives. Together, we can meet our environmental and sustainability targets while driving forward transformative AI technologies and ensure that our advancements in tech are matched by progress in creating a greener, more equitable future.