LYTLE: Alberta's natural gas is being hijacked to power AI data centres, and you're paying for it

The phenomenon of artificial intelligence and large language information models seems to be the latest “scare” designed to control the masses. I am revealing my bias. Will the speed of supercomputers launch the large language models into a state of consciousness? Those who make this argument assume that machine consciousness is a good thing (otherwise, why spend so much money trying to achieve it), but one of the big dividends of using machines is to get to a quick answer by eliminating the fog that attends consciousness. So by seeking consciousness, aren’t we working at cross purposes to the larger prize available in supercomputers? The issue of machine consciousness is shrouded in the underlying worldviews of the people making a particular case. People like me think that artificial intelligence is just another phrase for “computer model,” and machine consciousness is not relevant to much of anything. Black box models that whisper sweet nothings into the minds of susceptible humans are not conscious. They just respond to model prompts in sometimes surprising ways. In fact, ever faster computers just get us to a faster answer about how long to cook the roast or other interesting and pressing questions.But faster computers also mean that greater amounts of electrical energy are required to produce the large language models that know all about cooking roasts and millions of other things. More electrical energy means more power supply and transmission facilities, and it is correct to wonder who is going to pay for all this. Fortunately, it appears that the owners of the data centres will be on the hook for producing their own electrical energy and building the facilities to move that energy to the data centres. If true, then the data centres will not compete for electrical energy with the citizens of Alberta, and so my household energy pricing will not be affected by the production of data that will be sent to the US. Thank goodness for that.But what about the natural gas that will be burned to produce the electricity that produces the data that the Americans want? Won’t the purchase of this natural gas compete with the natural gas I need to keep warm every winter? How is this gas to be purchased? Might I lose access to natural gas if there is a delivery shortage and thus competition with the data centres? .In 2024, TC Energy projected that data centres would require an additional eight billion cubic feet per day of natural gas or an additional 21% of current US demand. The company warns of price pressures and volatility, as well as interference from required additional pipeline infrastructure. In Alberta, new pipeline infrastructure built by NGTL is rolled into tariff classes for all shippers on the system. That means you and I will pay more for the gas transmission pipes that we don’t use to produce the electrical power that we won’t have access to.Suddenly, I am not such a big fan of large language models and the data centres that create them. So, if my cost of electricity can be insulated from competitive pressure from the data centres, what about my natural gas use? Can it be similarly insulated from competitive pressure? I am not sure, but how about considering the following.One potential solution to mitigate the price swings of natural gas spot purchases for data centres could be to sign 20-year take-or-pay purchase agreements with natural gas producers and pipeline transporters. Alternatively, data centre owners might consider “paying it forward” by accepting the competitive natural gas price pressure in exchange for making large donations to the Heritage Trust Fund. A less appealing option could involve requiring data centres to drill their own natural gas wells and deliver the production through their own pipelines.I understand why the UCP government is excited about building large data centres in the province. But are the 40 or 50 permanent employees worth the disruptions to the natural gas and electrical energy grids? I don’t have the answer to that question, but it is time for the government to start addressing it and sharing all the downstream impacts of these facilities. I look forward to hearing their solutions prior to more cheerleading about the virtues of covering productive farmland with computers, conscious or not.

LYTLE: Alberta's natural gas is being hijacked to power AI data centres, and you're paying for it

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