Across
- 5. Huge buildings filled with computers for AI and cloud storage
- 8. A simple search method that uses less energy than asking an AI for basic information (2 words).
- 9. A major tech operator—along with Google, Amazon, and Meta—that has pledged to be net zero on carbon emissions by 2030 (though some experts view these as non-binding pledges for positive attention)
- 11. Suffix to add to a Google query to remove the AI Overview (starts with a spelled-out mathematical sign). A good habit to develop, since manual searches use less power than AI-generated ones!
- 12. A type of sustainable energy infrastructure Amazon is investing in
- 14. A measure of power; the Stargate project is projected to consume 15 of these
- 15. The biggest water consumer among big tech companies, using 6.4 billion gallons in 2023
- 16. Oregon city where Google's first data center caused local water levels to drop, using a quarter of all water available in town
Down
- 1. Tech company that, unlike others, reports only its Water Usage Effectiveness
- 2. Abbreviation for a metric Amazon uses to report its water use, instead of total gallons
- 3. Senator who introduced a bill to establish federal standards for measuring AI’s environmental footprint
- 4. A pledge by tech companies to put more water back into the environment than they use
- 6. Project name for a new venture to build 20 large data centers that would consume the power equivalent of 15 cities the size of Philadelphia
- 7. A sustainability goal for carbon emissions pledged by Google, Microsoft, and Meta for 2030
- 10. Resource consumed in vast quantities to cool computers in data centers
- 13. An energy source that companies like Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet are supporting to triple in global supply by 2050
- 16. Format of the simplest type of AI response—easier on energy and simpler than generating images or video. Stick to this when possible!