Australia's upcoming Standards for AI has some interesting sustainability-focused rules for data centers

Australia just made a laudable, forward-thinking play in the AI race.

The upcoming Australian Standards for AI will mandate that large-scale data centers will be legally required to put in at least as much energy into the grid as they draw from it. In other words, all data centers built in Australia should be net generators of energy. 

The icing on the cake is that the supply added to the grid by data centers must come from renewable energy, killing two birds with one stone. 

In addition, the proposed rules mandate that large data centers would be required to pay their full share of grid connection costs, with no costs passed on to households or businesses, and be as water efficient as possible.

Caveats remain, for e.g., pushback from global AI firms from their POV regarding practicality, cost-effectiveness and time constraints. Plus, it would have been better to unambiguously mandate closed-loop cooling systems for new data centers, rather than leave "be as water efficient as possible" to be open to interpretation. 

If successfully implemented in letter and spirit, I believe this is a fantastic piece of upcoming legislation, as it addresses several very valid pain points in the construction of large-scale AI data centers, and would provide a worthy template for the rest of the world to emulate🤞. 

Links:
AI in Australia's interests | Prime Minister of Australia
Australia to require data centres to be net-generators of renewables - PV Tech