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curtisftoday at 6:23 AM2 repliesview on HN

Livestock emits between 10% to 20% of global greenhouse gases (in carbon equivalent/100y-GWP) [1]

In contrast, all data centers (not just AI) currently use less than 1.5% of all electricity, making up less than 0.3% of global emissions [2]. Although recent increases in data center electricity usage is lamentable, even in the short term future, much of this can and more importantly _will_ be low-carbon energy, and the ratio should continue to improve with time.

A 1% reduction in livestock emissions is therefore about the same as a 50% reduction in data center emissions.

[1]: https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environm...

[2]: https://www.carbon-direct.com/insights/understanding-the-car...


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