Hi Hugo, all,
On Wed, 20 May 2026 at 22:22, Hugo Buddelmeijer via "Development of GNU Guix
and the GNU System distribution." <[email protected]> wrote:
> - It used 3x less package builds; probably a net positive in energy use.
Well, for what it is worth, let me remind this old story. :-)
« Watt steam engine innovations made coal a more cost-effective
power source, leading to the increased use of the steam engine in
a wide range of industries. This in turn increased total coal
consumption, even as the amount of coal required for any
particular application fell. Jevons argued that improvements in
fuel efficiency tend to increase (rather than decrease) fuel use,
writing: "It is a confusion of ideas to suppose that the
economical use of fuel is equivalent to diminished
consumption. The very contrary is the truth."
»
For one example among many other agencies, academic institutes, etc. the
International Energy Agency [2] documents this same observations [3] as
Jevons.
• « The global electricity demand of data centres […] grew by 17% in
2025, in line with IEA projections. »
• « the energy efficiency of AI is improving at a rate unprecedented
in energy history »
Somehow, the same kind of phenomena already applies in other fields in
Guix as software obesity, continuous building^W integration, rebuild all
from source, etc.
Well, far from me the idea to draw some hard conclusions, or even worse
far from me any judgement of personal usage, and instead, I’m trying to
point that all the story is more complex than individual productivity
gain.
The point – out of scope of the discussion maybe? – I would like we keep
in mind is that all the agencies scrutinizing resources (electricity,
mines, water, etc.) are all raising warnings about the demand growth
because of AI systems.
Cheers,
simon
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Energy_Agency
3:
https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/3179f7f8-01f6-4dd6-bffa-c9f7b73f1dc9/KeyQuestionsonEnergyandAI.pdf
