On April 9th, Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Holdings, a British semiconductor and software design company came out and made a statement about data center energy consumption that most people would find shocking.

He said, “by the end of the decade, AI data centers could consume as much as 20% to 25% of U.S. power requirements. Today that’s probably 4% or less.”

Everyone wants to talk about AI, but this reality is something we don’t discuss nearly enough. AI may be the greatest unrecognized threat to the environment today, because AI is an energy hog.

Example: It requires nearly 10 times as much energy to do an Internet search in ChatGPT as using Google. Are the added benefits or the improved experience worth it? What about at scale?

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner takes an honest look at the very real problem of AI-driven energy consumption:

• Why AI requires so much energy to operate
• Projections for the growth of AI usage and therefore AI energy consumption
• How the use of AI should change given today’s sensibilities about sustainability

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“We know what matters to our employees, and we know what matters to our customers, and we know where the leadership view is. That alignment means that you make progress more easily because you’re focused on stuff that matters and that people care about.” - Gareth Hughes is the Business Services and ESG Director for Whistl

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say, what is the road to sustainability paved with? Put another way - if the road you are journeying down is lined with little more than good intentions, how can you be sure you’re traveling in the right direction?

This week’s episode of Art of Supply is the monthly interview, and it features a guest that both knows where he is headed and is armed with more than good intentions.

Gareth Hughes is the Business Services and ESG Director for Whistl, a UK based e-commerce and logistics business. They provide business mail services and eFulfillment services. His current responsibilities include procurement, property, facilities, fleet, and delivering ESG impact.

In this conversation, Kelly Barner invites Gareth to speak candidly about how he has taken his passion for ESG and turned it into a successful and fully operational program:

• Why pressure from customers to increase sustainability shouldn’t become passthrough pressure put on suppliers
• The need for all ESG-related projects to have an appropriate level of materiality
• How pushback can keep everyone on plan and even help companies outperform expectations
  

Links:

• Gareth Hughes on LinkedIn
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

Heavy-duty trucks include tractor-trailers, ambulances, garbage trucks, and school buses. All of these are now on an official timeline for reduced emissions, in alignment with a new Federal mandate.

Manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles must reduce their overall emissions by mandated percentages according to model year, starting with their 2028 models and extending through 2032.

When the rules were released on March 29th, we heard the usual responses from the usual cast of characters. Environmental advocacy groups love it, and trucking industry associations say it is ridiculous. But will it work?

In this week’s episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner investigates the details of the new rules to better understand:

• The requirements, operational challenges, and worthy effort to reduce fleet emissions
• What manufacturers of heavy duty trucks are being asked to do by when
• Concerns beyond the usual noise that will have to be overcome before we can reduce the emissions output of the supply chain

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement