đź”® Breaking the energy barrier with reversible computing
As energy toll of AI growth and computation is expanding, the science of reversible computing is more important than ever
Signals
This project cuts emissions by putting data centers inside wind turbines | CNN
WindCORES operates data centers inside wind turbines located in a wind park in western Germany, which the company says makes the centers almost carbon neutral.
New Breakthrough in Energy Storage – MIT Engineers Create Supercapacitor out of Ancient Materials
Constructed from cement, carbon black, and water, the device holds the potential to offer affordable and scalable energy storage for renewable energy sources. Two of humanity's most ubiquitous historical materials, cement and carbon black (which resembles very fine charcoal), may form the basis for
The water naturally forms a branching network of openings within the structure as it reacts with cement, and the carbon migrates into these spaces to make wire-like structures within the hardened cement.
fractal-like structure, with larger branches sprouting smaller branches, and those sprouting even smaller branchlets
existing batteries are too expensive and mostly rely on materials such as lithium, whose supply is limited,
nanocarbon-black-doped concrete
upercapacitors can be charged and discharged much more rapidly than batteries
Since the concrete would retain its strength, a house with a foundation made of this material could store a day’s worth of energy produced by solar panels or windmills
working up to a 45-cubic-meter version to demonstrate its ability to store a house-worth of power.
A.I. tools fueled a 34% spike in Microsoft’s water consumption, and one city with its data centers is concerned about the effect on residential supply
“They were pretty secretive on what they’re doing out there,” says a former mayor about Microsoft’s data center projects.
Microsoft disclosed that its global water consumption spiked 34% from 2021 to 2022 (to nearly 1.7 billion gallons, or more than 2,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools)
ChatGPT gulps up 500 milliliters of water (close to what’s in a 16-ounce water bottle) every time you ask it a series of between 5 to 50 prompts or questions
Google reported a 20% growth in water use
“was literally made next to cornfields west of Des Moines.”