[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Risk Reward on Energy Requirements

Tue Jan 7 07:14:00 PST 2025

 To clarify, fusion not only will need to replace some (most?) of the "dirty energy" we use now, but will need to increase production to accommodate new demands introduced by AI and electric vehicles. And conversions of households and commercial-industrial properties from natural gas to electric heat. 
-- Bob Primak
    On Sunday, January 5, 2025 at 12:39:52 PM EST, Jerome Slate <slatemd at comcast.net> wrote:  

  The spending on fuel and infrastructure is about 2 trillion dollars annually.
 What's a few dozen billion dollars as a one-time expense if fusion replaces a large proportion of energy production. 
 The reward is a license to print money. 
 Sounds pretty good if it ever works. 
 Time will tell.
 Jerry

 On 1/4/2025 4:08 PM, Larry Wittig wrote:

 Right now various parties have bet $7.1B on Fusion. Folks usually do
their homework before they invest that kind of $$.
According to an AI response to a Google search, Commonwealth Fusion's
share is over $2B.

See: https://carboncredits.com/7-1-billion-investment-fuels-fusion-commercialization-is-fusion-the-future-energy/

On Sat, Jan 4, 2025 at 9:35 AM Jerome Slate <SlateMD at comcast.net> wrote:

 Right now, the World Record for continuous nuclear fusion in a reactor is 17 min, 36 sec ± a few milliseconds, but who's counting? (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST),Hefei, Anhui Province, China.)
According to Commonwealth Fusion Systems, their continuously operating electricity generating plant will be up and running in the 2030's.
Their prototype at Fort Devens is not yet completed.
Somehow, I sense that they may be leaning over their skiis a bit.
Jerry

On 1/1/2025 3:55 PM, Larry Wittig wrote:

In the past few weeks, Commonwealth Fusion Systems announced that it
will build its first "on-the-grid" fusion power plant in Chesterfield,
VA. It cited "The announcement comes as Virginia’s energy needs are
surging, driven by the rapid growth of data centers that power big
tech operations. These facilities consume enormous amounts of
electricity and water to process and cool computer systems." This is
fusion, not the "Small modular nuclear [fission] reactors" cited
above.

On Tue, Dec 31, 2024 at 4:18 PM Jerome Slate via LCTG
<lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:

Dear LTCG Group,
No worries about the AI energy load ~ 40% increase in USA energy output by 2050.
Small modular nuclear reactors are coming to the rescue.
We will have a live speaker on this topic on Feb 12.
George W Griffith PhD from the Idaho National Laboratory, part of the Dept of Energy, will present this topic.
We are all saved.

Jerry Slate

On 12/31/2024 11:05 AM, Robert Primak via LCTG wrote:

The problem is, New Scientist has a paywall. To read the article we would have to subscribe. (Which might not be a bad idea for some of us.)

But anyone can listen to this audio-only breakdown of the same fundamental concepts.

How Running AI Computations Backwards Can Save Energy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKAwpyj98m0
The Singularity Labs | 12:35 m:s

Fascinating discussion, and makes the concepts much clearer.

BTW, reverse-time computation has nothing to do with time as in space-time. It's a technique of doing some calculations back-to-front, as well as front-to-back. It can be much more efficient in terms of CPU and NPU loads, as well as making the computations happen faster.

Pruning of irrelevant background details has an even greater effect on computational efficiency.

Given the huge energy demands of AI, as well as AI's tendency to use up a lot of GPU and other hardware resources, this is an important area of concern.

-- Bob Primak

On Tuesday, December 31, 2024 at 10:10:16 AM EST, John Rudy via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:

I have been getting this very interesting magazine for a couple of months.  It is mostly short stories on a VERY wide swath of technical issues.  Seems to be UK based.  It is a weekly of about 40 pages, and  the 12/29 article had this article on the cost of AI computing and the way in which computers use so much money erasing data.  I only partially understand it but it appears to be well worth reading.  Then someone with more knowledge that I can explain it at a meeting.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435231-300-how-to-fix-computings-ai-energy-problem-run-everything-backwards/

John Rudy

781-861-0402

781-718-8334  cell

13 Hawthorne Lane

Bedford MA

jjrudy1 at comcast.net

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