Ep. 500: Are Bitcoin and A.I. Energy Pigs?

Guest: Alex de Vries, Digiconomist

We’re mesmerized by technology, in particular A.I. and Bitcoin, without an awareness of the unintended environmental consequences.

Alex de Vries, the founder of Digiconomist, has – and he set out to look at two of the largest energy sinks that technology has created. A.I. and Bitcoin, he says, are “energy pigs that eat up valuable electrical energy and generate tonnes of carbon emissions and electronic waste.”

According to Digiconomist, “a single NVIDIA DGX A100 server can consume as much electricity as a handful of US households combined.” Because of this, the electricity consumption of hundreds of thousands of these devices will add up quickly.

By 2027, worldwide A.I.-related electricity consumption could increase by 85.4 to 134.0 terawatt hours of annual electricity consumption. This figure is comparable to the annual electricity consumption of countries such as the Netherlands, or Argentina, or Sweden.

We invited Alex de Vries of Digiconomist to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the unintended consequences of digital technology consumption.

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