Researchers in Norway have proposed that limits should be imposed on the use of energy in cloud data centers. They argue that Norwegian politicians should not be sponsoring the race for influence by uncritically giving the tech companies unrestricted access to the energy they claim they need. Licences should be introduced and granted to data centres strictly on the basis of the benefits they offer to society.
A group of researchers at SINTEF, Sølve Eidnes, Senior Research Scientist, Sunniva Meltzer, Ph.D. Fellow, Signe Riemer-Sørensen, Research Manager have published an opinion piece in Norway’s public broadcaster earlier this year[1].
Their article reflects their concerns about the unrestricted access to energy questionable uses of energy. Their premise that energy is not an infinite source and that its use has an important negative impact for climate change.
They are supporting a proposal put forward by the Norwegian Socialist Left (SV) party that Norway should introduce a licensing system for data centers in an attempt to gain some control over electricity consumption. One of the party’s arguments is that such a system can be used to reject the establishment of data centers that want to use electricity for no other reason than to mine cryptocurrencies.
In their opinion, an ability to say no to centers that are planning to extract electricity simply to create a video playground is another valid reason for introducing a licensing system.
The background for this proposal is that the Norwegians are seeing massive data centers joining the Norwegian distribution grid and at the same time damaging their natural ecosystems according to the authors.
They point out that the AI systems operated by OpenAI are housed in gigantic data centers just like those that Google is planning to build in Skien in Telemark. Similar centers are also being planned in the counties of Troms and Nordland, as well as in Oslo and in Hamar in Innlandet county.
So far, no other such demands have been seen in other Nordic countries. The baseline demands that exist relate mainly to water usage and privacy concerns!
Source: https://www.sintef.no/en/latest-news/2024/what-should-we-be-using-our-electricity-for/
Photo: This woman walking along the streets of Tokyo has become perhaps the best known film produced by the text-to-video AI tool called Sora. But Sora needs a lot of electricity. According to the authors of this article, tech companies should not uncritically be given unrestricted access to the energy they claim they need. Photo: OpenAI
[1] The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors alone.
