A brand new deal will see Google buy power from “a number of small modular reactors” developed at Kairos Energy in California.
Google plans to have the primary of its reactors up by 2030, with extra ones due up and working between 2030 and 2035.
The ability offered gained’t cowl your complete invoice for Google’s AI operations, although.
The deal is estimated to supply the corporate with as much as 500 megawatts (MW) in power era. For comparability, Google expended 25 terawatt-hours (TWh) of power in 2023, in accordance with its personal environmental report. So if its power use stays the identical, the nuclear power will account for lower than a sixth of the corporate’s wants, earlier than accounting for effectivity loss and ranging demand ranges.
Michael Terrell, Google’s Senior Director of Vitality and Local weather, wrote in The Key phrase weblog: “The grid wants new electrical energy sources to assist AI applied sciences which can be powering main scientific advances, enhancing providers, for companies and prospects, and driving nationwide competitiveness and financial progress.”
How a lot power does AI use?
A single request to the ChatGPT chatbot is estimated to devour as much as 2.9Wh, simply over a fifth the ability an iPhone 16’s 13.7Wh battery can retailer.
AI requests devour 10-30 instances extra energy than specialised software program — the Worldwide Vitality Company (IEA) estimates a Google search consumes round 0.3Wh, for instance. Nonetheless, that was earlier than Google added AI summaries to its search outcomes.
Whereas some recommend AI is a path to tackling local weather points, its excessive power value is confounding.
A report printed by the Guardian in September 2024 additionally claimed the emissions figures for the most important tech firms — Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon — have been as much as 7.62 instances increased than the businesses’ studies claimed.
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