A University of Coimbra professor, Paulo de Carvalho, highlighted concerns about the energy and water consumption of AI systems, particularly cooling data centre servers. Nonetheless, the professor noted that Portugal, with its natural resources and access to renewable energy, may have advantages in managing these costs compared to other developed countries, despite the universal nature of the issue.

Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Paulo de Carvalho highlighted that “Anyone who wants to play the game of artificial intelligence and data will necessarily face this problem,” he stated. “I remember that the new technology from Nvidia [...] the new Blackwell chip, tends to be water-cooled, and even small servers will start to have these problems,” he further added.

While not an energy expert, Paulo de Carvalho noted that Portugal’s Atlantic location and access to renewable energy sources provide a comparative advantage over other developed nations. “We have a huge maritime geographic area, we have wind energy and a lot of sun, we are potentially a large producer of hydrogen, and we have some very interesting conditions here, compared to our colleagues in northern Europe,” he explained.

International studies indicate that generating just 100 characters of AI-generated text, such as from ChatGPT, consumes half a litre of water, which de Carvalho described as “worrying and quite frightening.” He also emphasised that data centre cooling efficiency is not keeping pace with AI’s rapid advancements.

“The big challenge from a scientific and technological point of view is that, if we look at the human brain [...] it does not consume these amounts of energy, it is extremely efficient. We are still a long way from this efficiency,” he stressed. A September 2024 MIT Technology Review article reported that Microsoft signed a 20-year deal to power its data centres using a reactivated nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, underscoring the scale of AI’s energy needs.