Category «Energy»

Power-hungry AI is driving a surge in tech giant carbon emissions. Nobody knows what to do about it

Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the world has seen an incredible surge in investment, development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. According to one estimate, the amount of computational power used for AI is doubling roughly every 100 days. Researchers Gordon Noble and Fiona Berry turn our attention to the environmental impacts which have been largely overlooked. A single query to an AI-powered chatbot can use up to ten times as much energy as an old-fashioned Google search.

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Subjects: AI, Energy, Search Engines, Technology Trends

AI in Finance and Banking, April 30, 2024

This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, industry white papers, academic papers and speeches on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Four highlights from this post: Banks told to anticipate risks from using AI, machine learning; Banks don’t talk about the energy AI guzzles. Here’s why they should; Chatbot answers are all made up. This new tool helps you figure out which ones to trust; and AI is becoming a big deal for big banks.

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Subjects: AI in Banking and Finance, Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Financial System, Legal Research

Removing PFAS from public water systems will cost billions and take time

PFAS – perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are now either suspected or known to contribute to thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, liver damage and cancer, among other health issues. Dr. Kyle Doudrick’s team at the University of Notre Dame works on solving problems involving contaminants in water systems, including PFAS. We explore new technologies to remove PFAS from drinking water and to handle the PFAS waste. Here’s a glimpse of the magnitude of the challenge and ways you can reduce PFAS in your own drinking water.

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Subjects: Energy, Environmental Law, Government Resources, Healthcare

What is proof-of-stake? A computer scientist explains a new way to make cryptocurrencies, NFTs and metaverse transactions

Prof. Scott Ruoti briefs us on yet another new component in Digital Ledger Technology. Proof-of-stake is a mechanism for achieving consensus on a blockchain. Blockchain is a technology that records transactions that can’t be deleted or altered. It’s a decentralized database, or ledger, that is under no one person or organization’s control. Since no one controls the database, consensus mechanisms, such as proof-of-stake, are needed to coordinate the operation of blockchain-based systems.

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Subjects: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Economy, Energy, Financial System, Legal Research, Technology Trends

What’s going on with the Greenland ice sheet? It’s losing ice faster than forecast and now irreversibly committed to at least 10 inches of sea level rise

Alun Hubbard is a field glaciologist who has worked on ice sheets for more than 30 years. The past few years in particular have been unnerving for the sheer rate and magnitude of change underway. Current teachings that ice sheets respond over millennial time scales is definitely not what we’re seeing today. If every year were like 2012, when Greenland experienced a heat wave, that irreversible commitment to sea level rise would triple. That’s an ominous portent given that these are climate conditions we have already seen, not a hypothetical future scenario.

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Subjects: Climate Change, Energy, Environmental Law

Light pollution is disrupting the seasonal rhythms of plants and trees, lengthening pollen season in US cities

City lights that blaze all night are profoundly disrupting urban plants’ phenology – shifting when their buds open in the spring and when their leaves change colors and drop in the fall. New research Yuyu Zhou coauthored shows how nighttime lights are lengthening the growing season in cities, which can affect everything from allergies to local economies. In the study, Zhous and his colleagues analyzed trees and shrubs at about 3,000 sites in U.S. cities to see how they responded under different lighting conditions over a five-year period. Plants use the natural day-night cycle as a signal of seasonal change along with temperature.

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Subjects: Climate Change, Energy, Environmental Law, Healthcare

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 30, 2021

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: How to Password-Protect Your Google Search History and More; After Colonial attack, TSA issues new cyber regs for pipelines; European privacy groups challenge facial scan firm Clearview; and Google, Hospital Chain Cut Data Deal on Patient Records.

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Subjects: AI, Criminal Law, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Economy, Email Security, Encryption, Energy, Healthcare, Privacy, Search Engines

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 23, 2021

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: US to ramp up tracking of domestic extremism on social media; Protecting agency assets begins with identity-centric security; Colonial Pipeline Cyberattack Highlights Need for Better Federal and Private-Sector Preparedness; and Cyber Attacks – A Rising Threat (Infographic).

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Subjects: AI, Computer Security, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Data Mining, Energy, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Pete Recommends Weekly Highlights on Cyber security Issues July 5, 2020

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Industry Calls on Government to Invest Billions for Developing Secure 5G Networks; Enterprise IT concerns – quarantined workers breaking company policy could expose enterprise systems and data; What is a credit bureau?; and Key questions about enforcement of California’s privacy law.

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Subjects: Business Research, Competitive Intelligence, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Economy, Encryption, Energy, Health, Healthcare, KM, Legal Research, Technology Trends
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