This article was published by The Energy Mix on Feb. 15, 2025.
By Shauna Sylvester
Are you an Artificial Intelligence optimist or pessimist?
That seemed to be a popular question at the AI and Democracy panel during the AI Action Summit in Paris. It was amusing to hear a panel of Stanford professors declaring themselves. When I headed out to Paris, I was torn. Now that I’m returning home, I feel less torn, perhaps more optimistic and highly skeptical.
AI is definitely here and it will become deeply entrenched in all aspects of a city’s functioning. But it brings with it many serious issues that need to be carefully considered, planned for, and monitored.
Which brings me to a focus on AI and the impact it will have on energy. Cities spend thousands each year on energy procurement. Some cities operate their own municipal utilities, and consequently have some control over energy production, distribution, and costing. In British Columbia, most cities rely on our two major utilities – BC Hydro and Fortis.
A city with a population of one million will generally spend 12% of its budget on energy to power buildings, water and waste facilities, fleets, public amenities like swimming pools, and other services. It is difficult to estimate how much this would increase as AI started to displace operations and services, but national reports provide some insight.
According to Berkeley Labs, data centres in the United States consumed 70 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in 2014, representing 1.8% of total U.S. consumption. By 2023, it jumped to 4.4%, and with significant advances in AI, it could rise as high as 12% by 2028.
There is no doubt that the demand for electricity in our cities is growing. As zero-emissions mandates drive the adoption of electric vehicles, as extreme weather creates greater need for heat pumps and air conditioners, as homeowners, businesses, and industrial processes rely on AI features to operate and serve their clients, and as cryptocurrency that relies on data mining proliferates, the competition for stable and affordable electricity will increase.
This competition for electricity has driven some jurisdictions to restrict the construction of data centres. In B.C., there is a temporary moratorium on allowing BC Hydro to service new connection requests for cryptocurrency mining projects due to their 24-hour, high-energy operations and the strain they impose on the electricity grid. In Dublin, Google’s plan to build a data centre was denied and the city imposed a moratorium until 2028 on all new data centres for similar reasons—officials were concerned that the facilities would draw too much power away from the electricity grid.
It’s ironic that Dublin should place a moratorium on new data centres because at the AI Action Summit, that city was recognized as a global leader in AI. According to the Dublin Economic Monitor, “Dublin is poised to seize the mantle of Europe’s AI capital. Industry projections paint an ambitious picture: by 2030, AI could contribute a staggering €15 billion to Dublin’s economy, representing 12% of the city’s projected GDP.”
Dublin’s approach demonstrates both the optimistic and pessimistic sides of AI. It is charting a future vision for the city that supports AI innovation in human resources, financial monitoring, smart energy, urban transportation, and medical technology, while placing guardrails to protect its energy, people, and environment.
As a member of the EU, Dublin is governed by the EU AI Act, which advances regulations to support the sustainable and ethical use of AI, a measure the current U.S. administration labels protectionist. The city council is also trying to support companies that develop sustainable products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support work force development. But I wonder how council deliberations will change as AI becomes a more prominent feature of the economic landscape and the pressure for access to electricity increases.
It’s early days, but I think there is a great deal Canadian cities can learn from Dublin’s experience. It’s exciting to see the new innovations that have emerged. It’s also instructive to see the thoughtful approach the city has taken to the ethics, sustainability, and governance of AI.
If cities can deploy AI to better and more affordably meet the needs of residents, if they can ensure it is smart, sustainable, and inclusive and delivered in an ethical, safe, and socially just manner, then I’m an optimist and I can embrace its adoption.
But, that requires mayors, councils, and city staff having their eyes wide open to the risks and trade-offs that AI presents: risks related to governance, redirecting vital energy resources away from public needs, exposing city data to potential bad actors, and creating vulnerabilities in the operation and delivery of city services. But with careful planning, partnerships across public, private, and non-profit organizations, and clear social and environmental objectives, cities can mitigate their exposure and gain the benefits of AI.
Shauna Sylvester is the Founder and Lead Convenor of Urban Climate Leadership, a project of MakeWay that works with cities to support their efforts to create healthy, safe, and resilient communities. Shauna will be sharing her learnings live from Paris, especially as they relate to AI, cities, and energy.
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