UK Government

National Drought Group meets to address nationally significant water shortfall

Interesting Engineering

How deleting emails and photos might help the UK fight drought

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UK government suggests deleting old emails to curb water use

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Delete old emails to save water, say officials

Verge

UK government suggests deleting files to save water

Tom's Hardware

UK government inexplicably tells citizens to delete old emails and pictures to save water during national drought  'data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems'

Daily Mail

Forget hosepipe bans! Now officials say we should delete old EMAILS to save water

The Independent

Delete your old emails to save water during drought, Environment Agency tells Britons

Medium

When climate change dries out cloud computing

University of Oxford

Case Study: Water-guzzling data centres

Water Magazine

Elon Musk

Rishi Sunak

Kamala Harris

Bill Gates

Andrew Ng

Yoshua Bengio

Fei-Fei Li

Demis Hassabis

Melanie Mitchell

Sam Altman

Dario Amodei

Geoffrey Hinton

Yann LeCun

Gary Marcus

Max Tegmark

Connor Leahy

Eliezer Yudkowsky

Jaan Tallinn

Marc Andreessen

Eric Schmidt

Norbert Wiener

Arthur Clarke

Irving John Good

Claude Shannon

Hans Moravec

John Smart

There's a "wall of fear-mongering and doomerism" in the AI world right now.

"Worrying about AI today is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars."

Concerns that AI could pose a threat to humanity is "preposterously ridiculous."

Claiming AI poses an existential threat is "such an extreme" and risks "wip[ing] out some of its potential benefits."

"I'm more concerned about... the risks that are here and now [than the existential threat of AI]."

Current AI is "not anywhere close" to posing an existential threat but it could in the future.

AI is the "biggest existential threat" to humanity.

AGI's worst-case scenario would be "lights-out for all of us."

Powerful AI systems "taking control" pose an "existential threat."

AI has a "10 to 25 per cent" chance of destroying humanity.

"The most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI... is that literally everyone on Earth will die."

Does AI Pose an Existential Threat to Humanity?

Charles III

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Nancy Pelosi

Xi Jinping

Justin Trudeau

Narendra Modi

Pope Francis

Janet Yellen

Emmanuel Macron

Olaf Scholz

Angela Merkel

Yuval Noah Harari

António Guterres

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Barack Obama

Kofi Annan

Michael Mann

James Inhofe

Greta Thunberg

David Attenborough

Giorgia Meloni

Patrick Michaels

Jane Goodall

Bjorn Lomborg

Freeman Dyson

Metaculus

"[C]limate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax."

"I believe in climate change caused by human beings. What I'm skeptical about is the glib notion that it means the end of the world as we know it."

"The clock is no longer just ticking, it is banging."

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change."

"The time for seeking global solutions [to climate change] is running out."

"The climate crisis is the existential threat. That's not hyperbole; it's a fact."

"[W]e are killing our planet."

Climate change is "above all, an existential crisis."

"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges mankind faces."

"If we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon."

"Humanity is on thin ice — and that ice is melting fast."

"We haven't yet exceeded the bounds of viable human civilisation, but we're getting close."

Is Climate Change an Existential Threat?

Adam Scaife

Paulo Ceppi

Berkeley Earth

ECCC

Russell Vose

Gavin A. Schmidt

NOAA

Zeke Hausfather

Samantha Burgess

Ben Noll

James Hansen

Stephen Leahy

The Met Office

"There is a 7% chance that 2025 will rank as the warmest year on record."

"It's unlikely 2025 will be as hot as 2024."

"Years such as 2025 which aren't dominated by the warming influence of El Niño, should be cooler."

"2025 will be moderately cooler than 2024."

"It is likely that 2025 will not be as hot as recent years."

"Don't count 2025 out in the race for hottest year."

"The global mean temperature in 2025 is expected to surpass the earlier record set during the exceptionally strong 2014-2016 El Niño."

"The high January temperatures have increased the odds of 2025 being the warmest year on record."

Will 2025 Be the Hottest Year Ever Recorded?

The National Drought Group declared the current water shortfall situation in England a nationally significant incident on Monday, with five areas officially in drought and six more experiencing "prolonged dry weather," following the driest six months to July since 1976.

The National Drought Group declared the current water shortfall situation in England a nationally significant incident on Monday, with five areas officially in drought and six more experiencing "prolonged dry weather," following the driest six months to July since 1976.

The Environment Agency recommended that citizens delete old emails and photos as part of water conservation efforts, citing that data centers storing cloud-based files consume large amounts of water for their cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating.

The Environment Agency recommended that citizens delete old emails and photos as part of water conservation efforts, citing that data centers storing cloud-based files consume large amounts of water for their cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating.

According to Oxford University research, a relatively small 1-megawatt data center can use approximately 26 million liters of water annually for traditional cooling systems, equivalent to the water usage of around 1,000 homes.

According to Oxford University research, a relatively small 1-megawatt data center can use approximately 26 million liters of water annually for traditional cooling systems, equivalent to the water usage of around 1,000 homes.

Yorkshire Water has implemented a hosepipe ban for all customers, while Thames Water, South East Water, and Southern Water have postcode-specific bans. Yorkshire Water reports a 10% reduction in domestic demand, resulting in a daily savings of up to 80 million liters.

Yorkshire Water has implemented a hosepipe ban for all customers, while Thames Water, South East Water, and Southern Water have postcode-specific bans. Yorkshire Water reports a 10% reduction in domestic demand, resulting in a daily savings of up to 80 million liters.

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, significantly below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August. The lowest reservoirs are Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, significantly below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August. The lowest reservoirs are Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.

The Met Office forecasts temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in southern England this week, during the fourth heatwave of the summer. Largely settled conditions are expected through the second half of August, although there is potential for rain or thunderstorms.

The Met Office forecasts temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in southern England this week, during the fourth heatwave of the summer. Largely settled conditions are expected through the second half of August, although there is potential for rain or thunderstorms.

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The Environment Agency is recommending citizens delete old emails and photos as part of water conservation efforts, since data centers that store cloud-based files consume large amounts of water for cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating.</span

The Environment Agency is recommending citizens delete old emails and photos as part of water conservation efforts, since data centers that store cloud-based files consume large amounts of water for cooling systems to prevent servers from overheating.

According to Oxford University research, a relatively small 1-megawatt data center can use approximately 26 million liters of water annually for traditional cooling systems, equivalent to the water usage of around 1,000 homes.</span

Yorkshire Water has implemented a hosepipe ban for all customers, while Thames Water, South East Water and Southern Water have postcode-specific bans, with Yorkshire Water reporting a 10% reduction in domestic demand saving up to 80 million liters per day.</span

Yorkshire Water has implemented a hosepipe ban for all customers, while Thames Water, South East Water and Southern Water have postcode-specific bans, with Yorkshire Water reporting a 10% reduction in domestic demand saving up to 80 million liters per day.

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, significantly below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August, with the lowest reservoirs being Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.</span

Reservoirs across England are currently 67.7% full on average, significantly below the typical 80.5% for the first week of August, with the lowest reservoirs being Blithfield at 49.1% and Derwent Valley at 47.2%.

The Met Office forecasts temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in southern England this week during the fourth heatwave of the summer, with largely settled conditions expected through the second half of August despite some potential for rain or thunderstorms.</span

The Met Office forecasts temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in southern England this week during the fourth heatwave of the summer, with largely settled conditions expected through the second half of August despite some potential for rain or thunderstorms.

Telling people to delete emails is misguided theater that distracts from real solutions. Once data is stored, it generates minimal heat and servers often spin down when not needed. The UK should focus on fixing the 800+ leaks per week instead of symbolic gestures.

Telling people to delete emails is misguided theater that distracts from real solutions. Once data is stored, it generates minimal heat and servers often spin down when not needed. The UK should focus on fixing the 800+ leaks per week instead of symbolic gestures.

Artificial Intelligence

UK Urges Citizens to Delete Emails to Save Water During Drought

Drought

Science & technology

United Kingdom

World

The government's email deletion advice makes practical sense during this water crisis. Data centers consume massive amounts of water for cooling, and every small action adds up when millions participate. Water demand already dropped 20% in the Severn Trent area after conservation messaging.

The government's email deletion advice makes practical sense during this water crisis. Data centers consume massive amounts of water for cooling, and every small action adds up when millions participate. Water demand already dropped 20% in the Severn Trent area after conservation messaging.

There's a 42% chance that European soil moisture will be below the reference period for at least three out of the four years between 2022 and 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

There's a 42% chance that European soil moisture will be below the reference period for at least three out of the four years between 2022 and 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

UK Urges Citizens to Delete Emails to Save Water

UK Urges Citizens to Delete Emails to Save Water During Drought

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UK Urges Citizens to Delete Emails to Save Water

UK Urges Citizens to Delete Emails to Save Water During Drought

The Spin

Metaculus Prediction

The Controversies

Andreessen

Ng

LeCun

Mitchell

Li

Bengio

Musk

Altman

Hinton

Amodei

Yudkowsky

Trump

Michaels

Harris

Sunak

Francis

Biden

Macron

Thunberg

Merkel

Attenborough

Guterres

Mann

NOAA

Ceppi

Scaife

Earth

Leahy

Hansen

ECCC

Hausfather

Go Deeper

Articles on this story

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