The tiny transistors powering modern computers consume massive amounts of energy, posing a growing threat to climate goals. Despite having no moving parts, computing devices devour electricity as they process information.
The development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrencies are expanding the global energy demand for computing. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), current computing accounts for 1-1.5% of global electricity usage. However, this share is expected to increase with growing AI adoption and industrial-scale data centers.
Computing devices rely on tiny transistors that transition between high and low voltages during computation, consuming energy each time they change state. With billions of transistors in chips and countless servers worldwide, the collective energy consumption is significant.
Source: https://www.vox.com/climate/409903/ai-data-center-crypto-energy-electricity-climate