I enjoyed about your blog post, but I was curious about the claim in point 2 above. I asked Claude and it seems the claim is false:
# Fact-Checking This Climate Impact Claim
Let me break down this claim with actual data:
## The Numbers
*US Air Conditioning:* - US A/C uses approximately *220-240 TWh/year* (2020 EIA data) - This represents about 6% of total US electricity consumption
*Global Data Centers:* - Estimated *240-340 TWh/year globally* (IEA 2022 reports) - Some estimates go to 460 TWh including cryptocurrency
*AI's Share:* - AI represents roughly *10-15%* of data center energy (IEA estimates this is growing rapidly)
## Verdict: *The claim is FALSE*
The math doesn't support a 4:1 ratio. US A/C and global data centers use *roughly comparable* amounts of energy—somewhere between 1:1 and 1:1.5, not 4:1.
The "40 times AI" conclusion would only work if the 4x premise were true.
## Important Caveats
1. *Measurement uncertainty*: Data center energy use is notoriously difficult to measure accurately 2. *Rapid growth*: AI energy use is growing much faster than A/C 3. *Geographic variation*: This compares one country's A/C to global data centers (apples to oranges)
## Reliable Sources - US EIA (Energy Information Administration) for A/C data - IEA (International Energy Agency) for data center estimates - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studies
The quote significantly overstates the disparity, though both are indeed major energy consumers.