When you’re excited about what’s happening with a new technology, it’s tempting to focus solely on its features and what it can do; Sora’s release this week is a wonderful example of this. It’s exciting to see how a computer can create a video probably from nothing. . .
However, as I have noted many times, we also want the drapery component of the equation. And, extending this logically, it is about looking for the waste produced and the energy required to sustain these types of systems.
For example, we know that the United States is now looking for ambitious new nuclear systems to impose fashionable centers of knowledge. Many expect the next generation of power plants to be much safer than the last, but that’s something that will have to be answered as we move forward.
Another important concern is the hardware waste generated at the user end point – in short, what we do with our phones when we’re done with them. And this concern should extend not just to e-waste but to municipal waste in general – what we produce, and how we handle it, where it goes.
About 20 years ago we started carrying minicomputers in our pockets. Smartphones have revolutionized everything in our world to the maximum. Much of what happened in the 1980s is now presented and carried out on those small screens, and most of us wouldn’t be caught off guard without our extra fifth limb, our iPhone or Android device, which is our window to a wider world.
Not only that, but now, like Google Gemini, other people can communicate with AI agents directly through their phone. New efficiencies enable edge computing in LLM chatbot simulation.
That’s why it makes sense that we take a look at the heavy and other metals that make up our physical devices.
A study by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research or UNITAR suggests that a total of around 62 million tonnes of e-waste was produced globally in 2022, and that this figure could rise to 20 million. tons until 2030. , the company points out, constitute an important part of this waste.
But there is also the general waste produced in the average home, for which AI and new strategies can produce greener results.
Some experts at Imagination in Action events presented imaginable solutions. For example, there was a recent statement through Duhan Zhang about sustainability and how to manage this type of waste.
As an example, Zhang pointed out that the common smartphone has more than 30 chemical elements, adding elements such as lithium, copper and zinc, as well as rarer elements.
Showing pictures of landfills and dump sites, she talked about factors like the increase of population, and how much waste management will cost, possibly up to $640 billion per year in the near future.
“Beyond the economic costs, we also have to pay many environmental costs,” he said, referring to a “triple crisis” of climate change, biodiversity loss and air pollution. “We cannot live without energy and without tissues, and we want to reconsider how we produce and consume them. …decarbonization is essential, and we still want to think about what comes after energy and fabric consumption.
He spoke of “closing the loop” of energy and fabric production and creating what he called a “circular economy. “
“I like to do things very effectively,” he said, “so I’m going to ask: Is there a way to succeed on both sides at the same time?”
Chemical processes, he said, can create sustainable cycles.
Zhang spoke of a plan for “waste-to-energy” systems that can use waste-to-energy refining processes to send electrical power to the grid.
Annually, she suggested, we also generate some 6.6 million tons of ash in burning this waste. That’s based on putting a staggering 150 million tons of municipal waste into the slipstream – to be clear, this represents all kinds of everyday household trash, items like food scraps, paper, plastic, and furniture.
Zhang described groups examining ash, analyzing its chemical composition and creating maps to understand how the materials go through their life cycles.
By focusing on high-value fabrics and employing renewable energy, it is imaginable to treat waste on site sustainably. Best of all, the incineration procedure can generate a lot of energy: according to Zhang’s calculations, a total of 14 billion KwH across all WTE centers.
Power generation, Zhang noted, can command a significant price tag; gave an example where a municipal spouse can sell at five cents per kilowatt-hour to the national grid, for a net income source of $4. 8 million a year.
“We have a closed circuit,” he said of the processes. “After that, we have no more waste. We minimize heavy water pollution. . . Together, we will create a better and greener planet for ourselves and our children.
It’s worth taking the time to think about those answers as we prepare for a new era of AI. No matter what the interfaces look like, whether we keep using smartphones or keep going, waste will almost certainly remain a component of how we interact with technology. I’m excited about the work that other people at MIT are doing in this regard.
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