人工智能也害怕“電量耗盡”嗎？蓋茨花了10億美元建造一座核電站

An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute found that by 2030, data centers will consume 4.6% to 9.1% of U.S. electricity.

美國(guó)電力研究所的分析發(fā)現(xiàn)，到2030年，數(shù)據(jù)中心將消耗美國(guó)4.6%到9.1%的電力。

Last week, Bill Gates broke ground on a nuclear power plant in Wyoming, the U.S., with a $1 billion investment. On the 16th local time, he said he would make additional investments: "I have invested more than a billion, and I will invest billions more."

上周，比爾·蓋茨投資10億美元興建的核電站在美國(guó)懷俄明州破土動(dòng)工。當(dāng)?shù)貢r(shí)間16日，他稱自己還會(huì)追加投資：“我投資了十多億，我還會(huì)再投資數(shù)十億。”

The reason why Bill Gates continues to invest in this nuclear power plant is largely because the development of artificial intelligence (AI) will bring huge pressure on electricity consumption. "The data centers we are going to build will increase the electricity load by up to 10%." He said that the rise of various household heating devices such as electric vehicles and electric heat pumps has pushed up the demand for electricity in the United States, and "the emergence of data centers is even worse. Therefore, large technology companies are studying how to provide more electricity so that these data centers can meet the explosive growth of AI needs."

而比爾·蓋茨之所以要持續(xù)投資這座核電站，很大程度上是因?yàn)槿斯ぶ悄埽ˋI）的發(fā)展將帶來(lái)巨大的用電壓力。“我們將要增建的數(shù)據(jù)中心將會(huì)增加多達(dá)10%的用電負(fù)荷?！彼硎?，電動(dòng)汽車和電熱泵等各種家用取暖設(shè)備的興起推高了美國(guó)的用電需求，“數(shù)據(jù)中心的出現(xiàn)更是‘雪上加霜’。因此，大型科技公司都在研究如何為提供更多的電力添磚加瓦，使這些數(shù)據(jù)中心能夠滿足爆炸式增長(zhǎng)的AI需求。”

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a query using OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT consumes 2.9 watt-hours of electricity, while a Google search only requires 0.3 watt-hours, which is only about 1/10 of the former. By 2026, electricity consumption related to data centers, cryptocurrencies, and AI may increase to 620 to 1,050 terawatt-hours. In 2023, Germany's total electricity consumption will be 465 terawatt-hours, and Japan's total electricity demand will be 870 terawatt-hours.

根據(jù)國(guó)際能源署（IEA）的數(shù)據(jù)，使用OpenAI旗下的聊天機(jī)器人ChatGPT進(jìn)行一次查詢，耗費(fèi)的電量為2.9瓦時(shí)，而谷歌搜索只需0.3瓦時(shí)，只有前者的約1/10。到2026年，與數(shù)據(jù)中心、加密貨幣和AI相關(guān)的電力消耗可能會(huì)增加至620到1050太瓦時(shí)。而2023年，德國(guó)的用電總量為465太瓦時(shí)，日本的總電力需求為870太瓦時(shí)。

In an interview with the Financial reporter, Mr xiao, partner of EY's strategy and transaction advisory services, said that the large amount of electricity required for the expansion of AI computing power has become a major problem that cannot be avoided at present, but it is not unsolvable. In the future, we can start from technological breakthroughs, resource sharing and the use of new energy.

安永戰(zhàn)略與交易咨詢服務(wù)合伙人蕭先生接受金融記者采訪時(shí)表示，AI算力擴(kuò)容所需的大量電力已是當(dāng)前不可規(guī)避的一個(gè)主要問(wèn)題，但并非無(wú)法解決，未來(lái)可以從技術(shù)突破、資源共享和新能源利用等方面入手。

European and American governments feel the pressure of AI power demand

歐美政府感受到AI電力需求壓力

As AI infrastructure such as data centers proliferate, AI-related electricity demand will grow rapidly. According to research by investment bank Goldman Sachs, currently, global data centers account for 1% to 2% of total electricity consumption, but by 2030, this proportion may rise to 3% to 4%, which is doubled.

而隨著數(shù)據(jù)中心等AI基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的遍地開(kāi)花，AI相關(guān)的電力需求將迅速增長(zhǎng)。根據(jù)投資銀行高盛的研究，目前，全球數(shù)據(jù)中心的耗電量占總耗電量的1%~2%，但到2030年前，這一比例可能會(huì)上升到3%~4%，也就是翻了一番。

In Europe, the Goldman Sachs report said that by 2030, the region's data center electricity demand will be equal to the current consumption of Portugal, Greece and the Netherlands combined. An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) found that by 2030, data centers will consume between 4.6% and 9.1% of the United States' electricity.

高盛的報(bào)告稱，在歐洲，到2030年，該地區(qū)數(shù)據(jù)中心的電力需求將相當(dāng)于目前葡萄牙、希臘和荷蘭的總消耗量。美國(guó)電力研究所（EPRI）的分析發(fā)現(xiàn)，到2030年，數(shù)據(jù)中心將消耗美國(guó)4.6%到9.1%的電力。

Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security held a hearing on the theme of "Powering AI." The minutes of the meeting show that the committee believes that it is necessary to treat related issues as national security issues. The current U.S. power grid faces huge challenges in meeting growing demand, and its reliability and stability are worrying. The United States urgently needs strategic energy planning. Intermittent renewable energy alone is not enough to meet the high reliability requirements of data centers and AI technology, so it is necessary to focus on a diversified power generation portfolio including energy storage and stable dispatchable power generation resources. In addition, the United States needs to invest heavily in the construction and upgrading of energy infrastructure to support the growing demand for AI and data centers.

本月初，美國(guó)眾議院能源和商業(yè)小組委員會(huì)能源、氣候和電網(wǎng)安全小組委員會(huì)舉行了一場(chǎng)主題為“為AI提供動(dòng)力”的聽(tīng)證會(huì)。會(huì)議紀(jì)要顯示，該委員會(huì)認(rèn)為，有必要將相關(guān)問(wèn)題作為國(guó)家安全問(wèn)題來(lái)對(duì)待。當(dāng)前美國(guó)電網(wǎng)在滿足日益增長(zhǎng)的需求方面面臨巨大挑戰(zhàn)，其可靠性和穩(wěn)定性令人擔(dān)憂，美國(guó)亟需進(jìn)行戰(zhàn)略性能源規(guī)劃。僅靠間歇性可再生能源不足以滿足數(shù)據(jù)中心和AI技術(shù)對(duì)可靠性的高要求，因此有必要關(guān)注包括儲(chǔ)能和穩(wěn)定可調(diào)度發(fā)電資源在內(nèi)的多樣化發(fā)電組合。此外，美國(guó)需要對(duì)能源基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的建設(shè)和升級(jí)進(jìn)行大量投資，對(duì)于支持AI和數(shù)據(jù)中心不斷增長(zhǎng)的需求。

In Europe, some countries have begun to impose more requirements on the construction of local data centers due to concerns that the huge energy usage of data centers will put too much pressure on national climate goals and power grids.

在歐洲，由于擔(dān)心數(shù)據(jù)中心巨大的能源使用量會(huì)對(duì)國(guó)家氣候目標(biāo)和電網(wǎng)造成過(guò)大壓力，一些國(guó)家開(kāi)始對(duì)本地?cái)?shù)據(jù)中心的建設(shè)提出更多要求。
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Germany passed a new Energy Efficiency Act in October last year, which specifically stipulates the efficiency of power use, renewable energy supply, and waste heat use in data centers. For example, from 2024, 50% of electricity consumption must be supplied by renewable energy, and from 2027, this proportion will be increased to 100%.

其中，德國(guó)于去年10月通過(guò)了新的《能源效率法》，專門(mén)針對(duì)數(shù)據(jù)中心在電力使用效率、可再生能源供電以及使用廢熱等方面作出規(guī)定。例如，從2024年起，50%的用電量必須由可再生能源供應(yīng)，從2027年起，這一比例提高至100%。

Last year, Equinix, one of the world's largest digital infrastructure companies, Vantage Data Centers, and EdgeConneX, a data center operator, were rejected by Ireland for planning permission to build new data centers in Dublin. In fact, since 2022, the Irish Electricity Supply Commission (EirGrid) has stated that due to the sharp increase in electricity demand, they will restrict the construction of new data centers, implement stricter approval procedures for new projects, and give priority to projects with less impact on the power grid.

去年，全球最大的數(shù)字基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施公司之一易昆尼克斯（Equinix）、數(shù)據(jù)中心運(yùn)營(yíng)公司萬(wàn)特奇數(shù)據(jù)中心（Vantage Data Centers）和“邊緣連接”（EdgeConneX）申請(qǐng)?jiān)诙及亓中陆〝?shù)據(jù)中心的規(guī)劃許可均被愛(ài)爾蘭拒絕。事實(shí)上，自2022年起，愛(ài)爾蘭電力供應(yīng)委員會(huì)（EirGrid）就表示，由于電力需求的急劇增加，他們將限制新的數(shù)據(jù)中心建設(shè)，對(duì)新項(xiàng)目實(shí)施更嚴(yán)格的審批程序，并優(yōu)先考慮對(duì)電網(wǎng)影響較小的項(xiàng)目。

Local governments in and around the Dutch capital Amsterdam have also suspended the issuance of construction permits for new data centers to ease grid load and manage energy demand.

荷蘭首都阿姆斯特丹及其周邊地區(qū)的地方政府也已暫停發(fā)放新數(shù)據(jù)中心的建設(shè)許可，以緩解電網(wǎng)負(fù)荷和管理能源需求。

Technology giants: do it yourself and live a comfortable life

科技巨頭：自己動(dòng)手、豐衣足食

Technology giants such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon are at the forefront of AI development, and their cloud computing business units are supported by clusters of data centers around the world, which also means a lot of energy consumption.

微軟、谷歌和亞馬遜等科技巨頭是發(fā)展AI的排頭兵，而它們旗下的云計(jì)算業(yè)務(wù)部門(mén)由遍布全球的數(shù)據(jù)中心群支撐，這同時(shí)也意味著大量的能源消耗。

Recently, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm revealed that the Biden administration is in talks with major technology companies, asking them to invest in climate-friendly electricity production to meet their own growing needs.

近日，美國(guó)能源部長(zhǎng)格蘭霍姆（Jennifer Granholm）透露，拜登政府正在與主要科技公司洽談，要求后者投資于氣候友好型電力生產(chǎn)，以滿足自身不斷增長(zhǎng)的需求。

"If tech companies want clean electricity from the grid, they should generate their own electricity," Granholm told the media. "We have been discussing this with data companies. Large data companies have committed to achieving net zero emissions and want a stable supply of electricity generated by clean energy."

“如果科技公司要從電網(wǎng)中獲取清潔電力，他們應(yīng)該自己生產(chǎn)電力?！备裉m霍姆對(duì)媒體表示，“我們一直在與數(shù)據(jù)公司討論。大型數(shù)據(jù)公司已承諾實(shí)現(xiàn)凈零排放，并希望獲得由清潔能源產(chǎn)生的穩(wěn)定電力供應(yīng)?！?/b>

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