Podcast Summary: Can AI Fix Its Own Energy Problem?

Podcast: Click Here (Recorded Future News)
Host: Dena Temple-Raston
Guest: Stuart Clark, IT Professional
Date: January 16, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode explores the hidden environmental impact of our digital lives—specifically, the immense energy and emissions demanded by the internet and artificial intelligence. Host Dena Temple-Raston speaks with Stuart Clark, an IT professional who has shifted from hairdressing to coding and discovered firsthand how small changes in software can have enormous consequences for global energy consumption. The discussion dives into the invisible costs behind every search and stream, why tech’s energy appetite is skyrocketing, and how AI itself could lead the way to a greener digital future.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Stuart Clark’s Unusual Path to IT

• Stuart Clark began his career as a hairdresser, spending nearly 20 years in salons before retraining as a tech professional around 2008.
  • Quote: “My hands were far too soft and gentle to be working on building sites.” (05:27, Stuart Clark)

The Internet’s “Invisible” Environmental Footprint

• Despite perceptions, the digital world is not “weightless.” All our online activities—searches, streaming, smart devices—demand huge amounts of energy.

• Stuart notes that if the internet were a country, it would rank as the fourth largest polluter globally, after China, the US, and India (00:50, 09:30).

  • Quote: “If the Internet were a country, it would be the fourth largest polluter on earth.” (09:30, Stuart Clark)

Quantifying Digital Emissions

• Simple actions have shockingly large impacts:

  • One internet search: melts 0.2 grams of Arctic ice (08:26, Stuart Clark)
  • Google processes 8.5 billion searches per day—the cumulative effect is the equivalent of melting over 100 square miles of Arctic ice per year (08:36, Dena Temple-Raston).
  • TikTok’s annual carbon footprint in the US, UK, and France alone would require planting 26 million trees and growing them for 10 years to offset (08:36, Dena Temple-Raston).

• Transparency in tech:

  • Companies often obscure the true environmental cost—data centers are secretive, sometimes requiring armed guards and even not appearing on maps (07:42, Stuart Clark).
  • Quote: “One of Google’s data centers was called Lord Voldemort because it was like, he who shall not be named...” (07:42, Stuart Clark)

Realization: Code Matters—A Lot

• Stuart recounts a “bug” in his own code that made hundreds of redundant database requests instead of one, massively increasing server workload.
  • He likens it to walking to the library 500 times for each page of a book rather than checking out the whole book at once (14:44, Stuart Clark).
• The impact of this inefficiency:

  • One line of “lazy” code produced 2.3 tons of CO2 emissions per year—the equivalent energy usage of an entire American household for four months (15:49, 16:08, Dena Temple-Raston).

  • When Stuart optimized this code, server load was reduced by 99% (16:20, Stuart Clark).

  • Quote: “Just this one line, one single line of code was responsible for generating what I estimated to be 2.3 tons of CO2 emissions per year. Wow. Just because of one lazy algorithm.” (15:49, Stuart Clark)

The Road to Sustainable Software & AI’s Role

• Stuart coins the idea of “sustainable software”: simple, behind-the-scenes code optimizations can ripple out to billions, dramatically reducing emissions (16:25, Dena Temple-Raston).
• AI becomes part of the solution:
  • Programmers can now ask AI to optimize code for efficiency. Some companies are already using AI to cool data centers more effectively, cutting energy use in half—the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road (17:59, Dena Temple-Raston, 18:14, Stuart Clark).
  • Quote: “I can actually write within there to, say, use the most sustainable way possible to use as less CPUs...and AI will say, yeah, I can do that for you.” (17:43, Stuart Clark)

The Choice Ahead

• AI is not inherently bad—the outcome depends on how we use it.

• The episode concludes by emphasizing the power of small, intentional changes: updating code, optimizing with AI, and pushing for transparency can lighten our digital footprint at scale.

  • Quote: “Artificial intelligence necessarily isn’t bad. We just have to choose our path here and how to do this in a way that’s both healthy for us as humans and healthy for us as a planet.” (18:14, Stuart Clark)

Memorable Quotes & Moments (by Timestamp)

• 00:50, Stuart Clark: “If the Internet were a country, it would be the fourth largest polluter on earth.”
• 08:26, Stuart Clark: “Every search that you make on that device will melt 0.2 grams of Arctic ice.”
• 14:44, Stuart Clark: “This is like going to the library to get a 500-page book. But instead of checking out the entire book, you're checking out one page at a time… 500 times.”
• 15:49, Stuart Clark: “Just this one line, one single line of code was responsible for generating what I estimated to be 2.3 tons of CO2 emissions per year.”
• 16:20, Stuart Clark: “The fix was to reduce the server load by 99%.”
• 17:43, Stuart Clark: “I can actually write within there to, say, use the most sustainable way possible... and AI will say, yeah, I can do that for you.”
• 18:14, Stuart Clark: “Artificial intelligence necessarily isn’t bad. We just have to choose our path here and how to do this in a way that’s both healthy for us as humans and healthy for us as a planet.”

Notable Segments & Context (Timestamps)

• 00:50 – 01:06: Internet as a massive, unchecked polluter.
• 06:32 – 07:08: Lack of consumer awareness about digital energy costs and transparency in the tech industry.
• 08:15 – 09:45: The shocking calculations—searches, streaming, TikTok, and the global scale of the problem.
• 14:07 – 16:25: The library metaphor, real-world bug fixing, and the leap to sustainable software.
• 17:43 – 18:34: The promise of AI-powered code optimization and reimagining the industry’s ecological responsibility.

Final Thoughts

The conversation highlights that the digital world is not as “clean” or “invisible” as it feels—every online action has a material, environmental cost. Yet, solutions may be unexpectedly simple: optimizing software, leveraging AI for sustainability, and demanding transparency. While the challenges are substantial, the path forward can be shaped by millions of small, behind-the-scenes choices—one line of code at a time.