Data Centres: Energy and Water Consumption Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
Viscount Stansgate
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Data Centres: Energy and Water Consumption
Viscount Stansgate Excerpts(1 day, 20 hours ago)
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Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)
The AI growth zones can be distributed right the way around the country. There is a very specific plan for each of those proposals, and they must be looked at with local engagement with the relevant authorities. I am sure there will be contact with the devolved Governments as part of that.
Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent) (Lab)
My Lords, there is time to hear from both noble Lords. We will start with the Labour Party.
Viscount Stansgate (Lab)
My Lords, I for one am very grateful to the right reverend Prelate for raising this issue. I think the House is only beginning to realise just how staggering big tech’s energy usage is. I understand that Google has doubled its CO2 emissions since 2020 and signed a contract with Commonwealth Fusion Systems for 200 megawatts of power, using a power plant that does not even exist yet. Can my noble friend say whether more can be done to enable big tech companies to reveal how much energy usage and water is going to be involved in the use of AI? We ought to have an honest discussion about the costs involved in both those areas.
Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)
I have given answers on the data centres. The broader question of AI has been looked at by a number of publications, including recently in the journal Nature, which looked at the overall energy consumption by AI and the overall potential energy reduction by the application of AI across industries. It turned out to be slightly net positive for energy. The noble Viscount is right that energy consumption is a major area to think about. There are new chips that are reducing energy consumption by a thousandfold and new approaches to machine learning that can reduce it. It is high on the list of concerns, and that is why the AI Energy Council has formed a sustainability working group.