{"id":173931,"date":"2025-06-10T21:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T21:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/173931\/"},"modified":"2025-06-10T21:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T21:20:09","slug":"the-computing-industry-is-running-out-of-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/173931\/","title":{"rendered":"The Computing Industry is Running Out of Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The computing industry is running out of energy. Though the technology in computer chips has been growing smaller and more energy efficient at a rapid clip for decades, advancements are set to slow down rapidly due to fundamental physical limitations. This is unfortunate timing, as the tech sector\u2019s energy demands (and chip demands) are set to skyrocket<\/a> as the growth of artificial intelligence\u2019s already prodigious energy footprint outpaces the growth of new energy production capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe semiconductor industry will soon abandon its pursuit of Moore’s law,\u201d Nature reported back in 2016<\/a>. \u201cNow things could get a lot more interesting.\u201d Moore\u2019s law refers to the principle that the quantity of transistors that fit on a microprocessor chip will double approximately every two years. While that law has largely held true, it\u2019s no longer realistically viable. \u201cThe doubling has already started to falter, thanks to the heat that is unavoidably generated when more and more silicon circuitry is jammed into the same small area,\u201d the Nature article continued.<\/p>\n

According to a roadmap report<\/a> from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the energy efficiency of digital logic will plateau before the end of the decade. Traditional computer chips have pretty much gotten as small as they possibly can, barring a major overhaul in the most fundamental ways that computer chips work.<\/p>\n

And some scientists argue that this is exactly what\u2019s in order \u2013 a complete overhaul. One such alternative approach is through reversible computing. In reversible computing, no information is ever deleted \u2013 a total reorientation of how information is processed and stored. Erasing information requires computational energy, which is lost as heat. Undoing computation \u2013 rather than erasing the steps \u2013 can actually save energy in the long run.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep getting closer and closer to the end of scaling energy efficiency<\/a> in conventional chips,\u201d says Michael Frank, a pioneer and decades-long advocate of the still-nascent technology. says. According to Frank, the coming stall-out of semiconducting advancement is \u201cgoing to require more unconventional approaches like what we\u2019re pursuing.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this kind of computation has languished in academia and thought experiments for decades, it might finally have its day in the sun. \u201cThere aren\u2019t that many other ways to improve power,\u201d Christof Teuscher, a researcher specializing in unconventional approaches to computing at Portland State University, recently told<\/a> Quanta Magazine. \u201cReversible computing is this really beneficial, really exciting way of saving potentially orders of magnitude.\u201d As such, the relatively obscure model is gaining traction in tech circles.<\/p>\n

This burgeoning tech theory is not new, but is more relevant \u2013 and therefore closer to becoming a practical reality \u2013 than ever before. In fact, a reversible computing chip startup called Vaire Computing is already hard at work developing a commercial model. They\u2019ve already announced the tape-out stage of the chip design, which the company claims is capable of recovering half of the energy used in the chip\u2019s resonator circuit.<\/p>\n

This rapid advancement in reversible computing research and development is driven by its unique relevance and utility in the context of artificial intelligence. \u201cComputations in AI are often run in parallel, meaning different processors each run one part of a computation. This creates an opportunity for reversible computing to shine,\u201d stated a recent report<\/a> from IEEE Insider. \u201cIf you run reversible chips more slowly, but use more of them to compensate, you end up saving energy: The advantage of running each chip more slowly wins out against the disadvantage of running more chips,\u201d the report went on to say.<\/p>\n

Reversible computing isn\u2019t the only innovative response to runaway digital energy demand out there, but it may soon become one of the forerunners. It\u2019s competing against other equally futuristic-sounding technological alternatives such as quantum computing<\/a>, as well as (relatively) simpler solutions like algorithms based in integer addition<\/a> instead of the more traditional floating-point multiplication (FPM). It\u2019s still unclear which of these approaches will become the new normal, but it\u2019s clear that as Moore\u2019s law loses steam, disruption is impending.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com<\/p>\n

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

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