Before clicking the link I guessed something about AI would be mentioned. It was. Also, it says they’ve been claiming carbon neutrality since 2007 via carbon offsets. I have at best a dumb guy’s understanding of carbon offset credits but aren’t those things mostly just performative masturbation?
Carbon credits can be traded like debt, so that should tell you all you need to know about who it benefits.
Yeah, they're 100% bullshit
Google's source of carbon offsets historically has been from things like funding projects to reduce gas leaks or capture off-gasses at landfills. Who knows if the numbers add up, but it's better than not doing it.
Google has also historically put quite a bit of effort into making their data centers green. Some of that is productive stuff like insulation, more efficient cooling systems, running computers on low-power mode when possible, etc. But a lot of it is also just finding a place with a green power plant they can buy energy from, which isn't really helping anyone (power plants generally run at capacity; someone else was going to use that energy and it doesn't matter who does it).
I would not really blame AI for the change, so much as Google having spent the last 10 years putting bean-counters in charge of more stuff and becoming more aligned with the id of capital.
But a lot of it is also just finding a place with a green power plant they can buy energy from, which isn't really helping anyone (power plants generally run at capacity; someone else was going to use that energy and it doesn't matter who does it).
In theory it does kind of matter in the sense that if every company were committed to using green power in the same way that it would necessitate more such plants being built. If another company is so committed and Google is using all the green power, there'd have to be more green power plants built to satisfy the demand. And Google doesn't really have much control over what kind of power other companies prefer to use.
But yeah, ultimately that's still a small thing
I edited the post title and the subheader to make things clearer. Carbon offset credits seem like pure snake oil to me but I don't know the details.
I love that we're hitting the next big point of no return for climate change and the response of all our big corporations has been to go all in on the most energy wasting technology we've ever conceived.
"artificual@ "intelligence" really is putting nfts to shame in terms of energy intensive, pointless technologies. awesome society, incredible distribution of labor and resources
Death to America
Banned? DM Wmill to appeal.
No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer
Vaush posts go in the_dunk_tank
Dunk posts in general go in the_dunk_tank, not here
Don't post low-hanging fruit here after it gets removed from the_dunk_tank