In this episode of Clean Integration, Soluna CEO John Belizaire and CTO Dip Patel sit down with Professor Shaolei Ren from the University of California, Riverside, to discuss one of the most pressing challenges of AI today—its environmental footprint. Professor Ren’s research sits at the intersection of AI, sustainability, and environmental justice, exploring the hidden costs of AI’s water usage, energy consumption, and air pollution.

With AI models growing exponentially in size, and data centers consuming unprecedented amounts of energy, this conversation dives into the tangible impact of AI on the environment, policy efforts to regulate AI’s resource consumption, and how innovative solutions—like co-located renewable-powered data centers—can help create a more sustainable future.

Episode Highlights:

• The Rise of AI’s Energy and Water Demands: How AI's rapid adoption is driving massive increases in energy and water consumption.
• Policy & Regulation Updates: The latest legislative efforts to hold data centers accountable for their environmental impact.
• Hidden Costs of AI Growth: How AI-driven data centers contribute to regional air pollution and environmental inequities.
• The Case for Renewable Computing: Why co-locating AI infrastructure with renewable power plants is a crucial step toward sustainability.
• Health & Environmental Impacts: New research on how energy choices for AI computing affect human health and carbon emissions.
• The Future of AI & Sustainability: Why efficiency alone won’t be enough and what’s needed to align AI growth with global sustainability goals.

Guest Speaker:

• Professor Shaolei Ren – Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UC Riverside

Links & Resources:

• Listent to Professor Ren’s first episode on Clean Integration here.
• Read Professor Ren’s latest research here.

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