Why do AI data centers use so many resources?

With the AI boom, construction of new data centers has skyrocketed, and not without consequence — some communities that count these facilities as neighbors are now facing water shortages and straine [...]

Apple, Amazon join push for looser greenhouse emissions reporting

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a widely used international environmental standard for measuring and reporting emissions, is considering changes to how certain types of the emissions are reported. Advoca [...]

Orbital AI data centers could work, but they might ruin Earth in the process

At the start of the month, Elon Musk announced that two of his companies — SpaceX and xAI  — were merging, and would jointly launch a constellation of 1 million satellites to operate as orbital d [...]

EU pledges 90 percent cut to carbon emissions by 2040

The European Union has provisionally agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent (based on 1990 levels) by 2040, the EU parliament announced in a press release. That goes beyond the goals [...]

Global emissions due to AI-related chipmaking grew more than four times in 2024

A pair of studies analyzing the effects of AI on our planet have been released and the news is fairly grim. Greenpeace studied the emissions generated from the production of the semiconductors used in [...]

US Department of Transportation moves to cut fuel efficiency standards

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has only been in his post for a day and already making it clear that the agency will be ignoring the role vehicle pollution plays in worsening climate [...]

States are suing the EPA for relinquishing its role as a greenhouse gas emissions regulator

California, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York are leading a group of 20 other states in suing the US Environmental Protection Agency for renouncing its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissio [...]

Bezos-funded satellite tracking methane emissions loses power in space

MethaneSAT, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) methane-tracking satellite backed by the Bezos Earth Fund, is lost in space. Its ground team lost contact with the spacecraft on June 20 but tried to r [...]

Toyota's Prius Prime saved me gas money but probably not the environment

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to own a plug-in hybrid, and recently, fate handed me that opportunity. On a recent trip to Vancouver, I rented a 2024 Toyota Prius Prime for nearly two mo [...]