Council Post: How Machine Learning And Edge Computing Power Sustainability

Data centers use an estimated 200 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity annually, equal to roughly 50% of all electricity currently used for all global transport, and a worse-case-scenario model troublingly predicts that data centers alone could account for roughly 8% of global electricity consumption by 2030. This may seem shocking to some. But what may be equally shocking (to some) is that edge computing and machine learning will actually play a key role in reducing the carbon footprint of data centers. Through edge computing and machine learning, we can actually significantly reduce the amount of time--and hence, power--data centers need to use to process data. Let's explore why this is so important and how and why it will happen.