Microsoft secures 100 megawatts of solar power from Japan's Shizen Energy through a 20-year agreement spanning four developments, supporting the tech giant's $2.9 billion expansion in Japan as the company contracts over 1 gigawatt of solar capacity this year to meet surging data center demands.
AI data centers are projected to more than double electricity consumption to 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, adding 220 million tons of carbon emissions, while MIT researchers develop breakthrough solutions to cut GPU power by 70% and optimize renewable energy integration.
New research reveals AI models produce up to 50 times more CO2 emissions when tackling complex reasoning tasks, with philosophy questions generating six times higher emissions than simple topics, creating a stark trade-off between accuracy and environmental impact.
Google opens a new UK data center and pledges £5 billion over two years to power the UK's AI economy, advance AI breakthroughs, support thousands of jobs, and partner with Shell on clean energy initiatives.
CuspAI, an AI startup developing models for chemistry, raises $100 million Series A at $520 million valuation led by New Enterprise Associates and Temasek, with Nvidia, Samsung Ventures, and Hyundai Motor Group participating to discover new materials for carbon capture, water filtration, and semiconductors.
In a controversial move, Google removes its net-zero emissions pledge as the tech giant's energy usage surges 26% this year, driven by the AI boom, raising concerns about Big Tech's ability to meet climate goals amidst skyrocketing energy demands.
Google announces its AI prompts now consume minimal energy, with the median prompt using just 0.24 watt-hours of electricity, producing 0.03 grams of carbon dioxide emissions, and consuming 0.26 milliliters of water, a 33-fold reduction in energy use compared to a year ago.
Google touts its new AI assistant Gemini as eco-friendly, claiming minimal water and energy usage per text prompt, but critics argue the tech giant omits key data and its overall carbon emissions and resource usage keep rising despite efficiency gains.
Google unveils AI Inference Impact Metrics, a methodology quantifying the energy, emissions, and water footprint of AI inference tasks like Gemini text prompts, revealing median energy use of 0.24 watt-hours and emissions of 0.03 grams of carbon dioxide per prompt.
Gulf's booming AI hubs face a looming water crisis, with data centers projected to consume over 426 billion liters annually by 2030, straining the region's scarce freshwater resources as traditional cooling systems rely heavily on water.