8th July 2025 Bulletin Eco-Corner

Like it or not, Eco Corner cannot avoid AI these days.  Every time we do a web search we find an AI response at the top of our results, even though we didn't ask for it!  This is a problem because AI has a huge environmental footprint.  This is mainly due to the processing power involved in every response which, in turn, uses a lot of electricity.
 
Smartly AI calculates that each request made of leading generative AI Chat GPT leads to the emission of 4.32g of CO2.  Not much in itself, but scaled up to encompass the millions of requests made each day, a serious problem.  
Unfortunately there is not much we can do as individuals - beyond limiting our use of AI - but companies can make a difference, for instance by investing in sustainable energy generation to source their electricity.  The UN Environment Programme UNEP has a useful guide here.