Each click costs us! In this international episode we explore the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence and what that means for our future. Alongside our host Rashan Senanayake, expert speakers Yolande Strengers (Professor of Digital Technology and Society at Monash University's Emerging Technologies Research Lab) and Melissa Gregg (an author, ethnographer and consultant on sustainability strategy), examines the current relationship between AI and energy consumption, looking ahead to 2035-2040, and discussing practical strategies for reducing our digital footprint. But its not all doom and gloom, learn how the energy sector is adapting and discover emerging career pathways in sustainable tech, and get advice for educators and students navigating this evolving landscape. Tune in for insights on the power behind AI and how we can contribute to a more sustainable future – ignorance is no longer bliss!

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About Speaker: Yolande Strengers – Click Here to Connect

Yolande Strengers is a Professor of Digital Technology and Society at Monash University's Emerging Technologies Research Lab, where she leads the Energy Futures research program. Yolande's research investigates how digital technologies and AI are changing how we live. Her focus is on the energy, sustainability, health and equity outcomes of emerging technologies. Past projects have investigated smart grids, smart homes, consumer energy resources, automation, digital voice assistants, home robots and Telepresence. 

As an interdisciplinary scholar, Yolande's work spans the fields of digital sociology, human-computer interaction (HCI) design, and science and technology studies. Yolande holds a PhD in Social Science (RMIT University), a Masters in International Urban and Environmental Management (RMIT University) and a Bachelor of Arts (Monash University, majoring in Geography & Indonesian). 

About Speaker: Melissa Gregg – Click Here to Connect

Melissa Gregg is incoming Professor of Digital Futures at the University of Bristol and a sustainability consultant in the tech industry. Over ten years at Intel Corporation in the US, she established the User Experience domain driving architecture roadmaps in the Client Computing Group, from Business Platforms to Smart Home products and the research behind Intel EVO laptops. As Senior Principal Engineer, she secured executive support and built the first product team addressing Intel’s scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Prior to working in industry, her academic works include The Affect Theory Reader (co-edited with Gregory J Seigworth, Duke University Press 2010), Work’s Intimacy (Polity Press 2011), and Counterproductive: Time Management in the Knowledge Economy (Duke University Press 2018). Her current research is focused on circular design for high tech hardware, and the environmental impacts of the US CHIPS and Science Act.

Resources & Related Links

• Jobs of the Future
• Digital Energy Futures Project
• Net Zero Dashboards in High Tech (Published Paper by the Speakers)
• Smart Home Tech (Collaboration by the Speakers)
• How Tech Companies Are Obscuring AI’s Real Carbon Footprint (Article)
• Microsoft is building a data center in a tiny Indian village (Article)