Electronic waste and AI
Waste electrical and electronic equipment, in million tonnes
Electronic waste and AI
Sources
Source: ITU and UNITAR, 2024; Wang et al., 2024. projetcelsius.com/en/ai · CC BY 4.0
The analysis
- Only 22.3% of 2022 electronic waste was collected and recycled in a documented way.
- Generative AI waste would be a cumulative total over 10 years, to be compared with 1 year of global waste: 2 to 8% of the year 2022.
- AI servers are renewed quickly: GreenIT assumes a lifetime of 3 years.
The figures
- World, 2022 (per year, all devices): 62 Mt.
- World, 2030 (per year, projection): 82 Mt.
- Generative AI, cumulative 2020-2030 (servers and components, over 10 years): 1.2 to 5 Mt.
Assumptions
- All plug-in or battery-powered devices; for AI, servers and their components.
- The AI value is a model, with strong assumptions on server lifetime.
- The AI bar is a cumulative total, the 2 others annual values.
Continue with hardware
The whole Hardware topic →Charts and maps
Chart
HardwareElectricity for manufacturing AI chips+351%of electricity to manufacture AI chips, in one yearChartHardwareLife cycle assessment of Mistral Large 261%for materials, the manufacture of servers and chipsChartHardwareManufacture of an AI server, by component42%of manufacturing: memory, the largest itemChartHardwareTraining emissions, 4 published assessments20timesthe emissions of GPT-3, for Llama 3.1
HardwareElectricity for manufacturing AI chips+351%of electricity to manufacture AI chips, in one yearChartHardwareLife cycle assessment of Mistral Large 261%for materials, the manufacture of servers and chipsChartHardwareManufacture of an AI server, by component42%of manufacturing: memory, the largest itemChartHardwareTraining emissions, 4 published assessments20timesthe emissions of GPT-3, for Llama 3.1
Water
Across the hub
AI Impact DatabaseAll the figures, their methodology and their sources.
AI Ranking10 assistants rated out of 100: performance, ethics and environment.
AnalysesThe signed pieces: analyses, viewpoints, "Where does this figure come from?".
Charts and mapsYou are hereThe reference visuals, with their data and sources.
ToolsOpen calculations, your assumptions on the left, the result on the right.
A question about a figure?
An error, a source to add, a methodology question, a press request: write to us. Guillaume Pakula, Clément Reynaud, Sébastien Pierfederici and Alexandre Veilly will reply.
Write to us →
Projet Celsius, which runs this hub, also helps companies measure and reduce the footprint of their AI use.
Accounting for AI in your Bilan Carbone® ↗
