Website: www.izn.ai

Contact: Brad Duncan

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +27 74 266 8114

April 15, 2025

With services like ChatGPT and Midjourney taking the world by storm, many use artificial intelligence (AI) routinely.

What many don’t know is that the data-centers used to run AI exacts a devastating toll on our environment.

• The electricity consumption of terrestrial data-centers is approaching 1,050 terawatt-hours which is more than five times the amount South Africa consumes. Each new data-center uses as much electricity as 50,000 homes. What’s more disturbing is that data-center energy use is set to triple in ten years, requiring the surge in demand to be supplied by fossil fuel power plants.
• Terrestrial data-center water usage for AI alone is set to reach 1.7 trillion gallons annually or six times the amount Denmark uses. 500 milliliters or a bottle of water is consumed for every 300 queries made to ChatGPT due to cooling demands.
• There are approximately 11,800 data-centers globally, with ****43% lacking any environmental policy for handling their electronic waste. With only 22% of E-waste being recycled, the majority ends up contaminating drinking water and food chains with toxic substances like lead, mercury, and cadmium.

To mitigate the environmental impact of terrestrial data-centers, A South African startup IZN, is developing 70 meter long, 4 meter wide space data-centers that will run AI far more effectively & efficiently than ever before.

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