The Honorable and Former Vice President Al Gore shared his thoughts on the global challenges the semiconductor industry can help solve by driving technology advances to increase the energy efficiency of semiconductors and computing devices.

In conversation with moderator Heather Clancy of GreenBiz.com, Al Gore reminded the audience of the threat posed by climate change. He noted that 19 of the last 20 years have been the hottest measured. Further, Gore explained that the world is still putting 152 million tons of man-made heat-trapping global warming pollution into the thin shell of the atmosphere surrounding our planet every 24 hours. The molecules on average stay up there every 100 years.

Perhaps more telling is that the global economy suffered $2.5 trillion in damage from climate-related extreme weather conditions in the last decade, compared to $1 trillion in the previous decades, said Gore.

As other speakers had confirmed, the continued growth of data centers are consuming an inordinate amount of energy. The ongoing shift towards AI and cloud computing will further accelerate those trends. “One MIT study last year found that training large AI models can result in emissions nearly five times the lifetime emissions of the average American car,” he said.

On a positive note, Gore point out that advances in chip design and manufacturing have enabled smaller and more power-efficient devices. Further, the cost of solar panels and electric vehicles continue to improve, thus decreasing the overall carbon footprint.