"Is AI good or bad for the climate?" – Here’s how to discuss the issue properly 74 percent of AI climate claims are unsubstantiated. Here is the difference between greenwashing and the AI tools actually doing some good.

To give you a little food for thought for future debates about AI with family or at the pub, we’ll be introducing some of these specialised solutions in this edition of Digital for Good. Bon appétit!

🍊The ‘oranges’ would be small, specialised AI apps that offer real potential for #sustainability. Compared to the #LLMs that power #GenAI apps, these are significantly more resource-efficient; and their environmental impact is also being used as an argument for expanding generative AI systems.

🍏 The ‘apples’ here are the massive language models for generative AI. According to estimates, they will cause the digital industry’s share of global emissions to rise from just 2–3% to over 20%.

🧵But as if that wasn’t infuriating enough, major #AI companies are also comparing apples with oranges in the studies they present.

✉️ IN OUR LATEST NEWS LETTER:
👋 The idea that “AI” will save the climate is a popular slogan in the marketing of generative AI. In an interview with RESET, analyst Ketan Joshi explains that 74% of claims regarding the climate benefits of #AI are unsubstantiated.

A Fitness Tracker for Wind Turbines: How Aerosense Reduces Material Waste in Wind Turbine Design Aerosense helps manufacturers optimise wind turbine design by sharing real-time data, minimising material waste.

Just as a #fitnesstracker gives you insights on your heart rate, step count or sleep quality, #Aerosense gives manufacturers data about their #windturbines.

Does Your Car Actually Save Time? Use the Social Speed Calculator to Find Out Does the work required to afford a car cancel out the time it saves? This social speed calculator will help you find out.

We've gotten great feedback on our recent article about a new analysis by Clean Cities about the truth of driving cars and saving time. If you're a car driver who frequently uses your car to get around, you'll want to give this article a read 👇

"Is AI good or bad for the climate?" – Here’s how to discuss the issue properly 74 percent of AI climate claims are unsubstantiated. Here is the difference between greenwashing and the AI tools actually doing some good.

🤔 "Is #AI good or bad for the climate?" – Here’s how to #discuss the issue properly 👇

95 Percent Fewer Emissions: Candela Ferries Set to Electrify Stockholm’s Waterways Diesel ferries are the only public transport in Stockholm that run on fossil fuels. New electric ferries are set to replace them, potentially reducing emissions by 95 percent.

🇸🇪 The latest #greenenergy news from #Stockholm

Does Your Car Actually Save Time? Use the Social Speed Calculator to Find Out Does the work required to afford a car cancel out the time it saves? This social speed calculator will help you find out.

Solution? Stop measuring progress by top speed.
Shift to “high-efficiency” living:

✅ Walkable cities
✅ Reliable public transport
✅ Sharing rides

That doesn’t demand a 40% tax on your working life. 👉

This isn’t just about your driveway. Governments justify #motorways by valuing tiny fragments of time saved. But those roads carve up untouched landscapes & ecosystems—while #drivers still lose 40% of their working lives.

It reveals the “time-value” of every € spent. Including external costs: pollution, noise, accidents, infrastructure. The “illusion of speed” traps us. The #financial cost eats the time we tried to save. Increasing #car occupancy from 1 to just 1.3 people boosts social speed significantly.

Breakdown of your time-debt:

Direct time: driving, jams, 20 hrs/year parking

Labour time: ¼ of working hours just to afford the car

Externalised time : over 40% of working life spent on car

The calculator is simple: Net income, working hrs, fuel, insurance, parking search time

The formula, popularised by philosopher Ivan Illich in 1978: If you have an expensive car but work 60 hrs/week just to afford it, you aren’t “saving” time. You’re trading life for motion.

🧵We buy #cars to save time. But what if the clock doesn’t start when you turn the ignition? Once you factor in work hours to pay for the vehicle, fuel & maintenance, the “social speed” of a car drops to just 8.2 km/h.👇

"Is AI good or bad for the climate?" – Here’s how to discuss the issue properly 74 percent of AI climate claims are unsubstantiated. Here is the difference between greenwashing and the AI tools actually doing some good.

👋 The idea that “AI” will save the climate is a popular slogan in the marketing of generative AI. But as if that wasn’t infuriating enough, major #AI companies are also comparing 🍏 with 🍊 in the studies they present. Follow us on #Substack to read the full News Letter!
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exactly!!

They waste money, time, pollution... the list goes on

thanks for sharing!

Thank you! If you're interested, we have more car and pollution related articles
👉 en.reset.org?s=cars

Does Your Car Actually Save Time? Use the Social Speed Calculator to Find Out Does the work required to afford a car cancel out the time it saves? This social speed calculator will help you find out.

We buy #cars to save time. We pay often extortionate sums for the convenience of point-A to point-B mobility, convinced that a 50 km/h average speed is a victory over the 5 km/h pace of a pedestrian. But what if the clock doesn’t start when you turn the ignition? ⬇️

A Fitness Tracker for Wind Turbines: How Aerosense Reduces Material Waste in Wind Turbine Design Aerosense helps manufacturers optimise wind turbine design by sharing real-time data, minimising material waste.

A fitness tracker for wind turbines?👇

Browser Diet: JustTheBrowser Removes AI and Shopping Features from Chrome, Firefox, and Edge The "JustTheBrowser" tool lets you strip Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge of unnecessary bloat. RESET shows you how to get rid of AI features, shopping integrations and more.

Ever wondered how AI integrations and trackers increase our carbon footprint?
This is one way you can minimize that ➡️

New Report: “AI That Helps the Climate Is Very Different From AI That Consumes a Lot of Energy” 74 percent of claims that AI benefits the climate are unfounded, as per a new report, which also highlights the harm of conflating GenAI with smaller models.

A new report commissioned by Beyond Fossil Fuels CAAD_Coalition @foeus.bsky.social #GreenScreenCoalition, #GreenWebFoundation, Stand.earth, and authored by Ketan Joshi has found that claim that AI saving the planet is unfounded.
READ MORE ➡️

Browser Diet: JustTheBrowser Removes AI and Shopping Features from Chrome, Firefox, and Edge The "JustTheBrowser" tool lets you strip Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge of unnecessary bloat. RESET shows you how to get rid of AI features, shopping integrations and more.

Every heard of JustTheBrowser? We are already a big fan!

New Report: “AI That Helps the Climate Is Very Different From AI That Consumes a Lot of Energy” 74 percent of claims that AI benefits the climate are unfounded, as per a new report, which also highlights the harm of conflating GenAI with smaller models.

Recently there’s a lot of hype about #AI saving the planet. But in reality a staggering 74% of claims that AI benefits the climate are unfounded. RESET spoke to Ketan Joshi who authored a new report commissioned by environmental organisations. 👇

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Here's the answer to decades of anthropological and philosophical discussions about human universals

#philosophy #anthropology #microplastics

Microplastics: Tiny, Toxic and All Around Us It's hard to try and cut back on plastic. It's useful, endlessly practical and found pretty much everywhere. Unfortunately it's not just there where we want it - it's also in our oceans, soils and eve...

As if we didn't already have enough reasons to fight microplastics... 🥲

SUSTAIN-AI ECG is Bridging the Cardiac Care Gap with Open-Source AI SUSTAIN-AI ECG has developed an open source AI tool to support doctors and boost cardiology aceess in Ethiopia.

Exciting news from Ethiopia too⬇️
en.reset.org/sustain-ai-e...