Mistral's new "environmental audit" shows how much AI is hurting the planet
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/mistrals-new-environmental-audit-shows-how-much-ai-is-hurting-the-planet/Open linkView original on lemmy.bestiver.seSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on lemmy.bestiver.sehttps://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/mistrals-new-environmental-audit-shows-how-much-ai-is-hurting-the-planet/Open linkView original on lemmy.bestiver.se
13 replies
grok is running off inefficient turbine generators in memphis, churning out air pollution while being cooled by drinking water from the aquifer instead of the grey water plant that musk promised but did not build.
please do not use grok.
Not defending nazi or his platform, but is it really a big deal if green energy source is inefficient?
What green energy source??? There's no green energy involved, and unnecessary contamination of a water source.
I saw turbine and assumed wind. My bad. Either way, fuck Musk.
They're "natural gas" (Propane/methane) burning turbine generators, not wind turbines if that's what you're getting confused.
Yeah "natural gas" is like "natural" oil.
I've always found the petroleum distillate "Mineral spirits" to be oddly named in the same way. Also, if you're from the US, canola is rapeseed oil of a specific variety that they rebranded as a combination of "Canada" and "oil" because rapeseed didn't sit well with customers. There's a lot of power in what we call things.
iirc the -la in canola stands for low acid, because non Canadian varieties at the time were not low acid
Canada oil low acid does ring a bell. It's been a bit since I'd read up on it.
Ah, makes sense. I saw turbine and assumed wind..
Mistral's lifecycle emissions in 18 months were less than the typical annual emissions of a single A320neo in commercial service.
So not non zero, But pretty good tbh.
People dont like it when you point out that them commuting to work uses vastly more energy than LLM usage though.
Question is what are you getting out of it? Makes little sense to just compare energy usage.
I'm against mass aviation, granted there isn't really an alternative to flying in general except not flying. But a A320neo moves a lot of people in a year. That is actually something valuable. How much value, all things considered, comes out of running an LLM for 18 months? And what are the alternatives?