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It would be nice to get some accurate measurements for how carbon-intensive LLMs and image models are. I've started to cut way back on just randomly noodling w

by SamBam 3y ago

It would be nice to get some accurate measurements for how carbon-intensive LLMs and image models are. I've started to cut way back on just randomly noodling with image prompts once I read that each image generated might produce the same amount of carbon as driving four miles. That really adds up.

asynchronous 3y ago
There is quite literally no way that math is correct. Even in the absolute worst case scenario where your server farm was powered by coal plants exclusively this would not be the case.
- evilduck 3y ago
  Using a Kill-a-watt to measure, my M2 Max will pull around 60 watts for 10-15 seconds while running stable diffusion, and the Apple chips aren’t even especially suited for the task. Hosted services in data centers with Nvidia GPUs are probably more efficient per image. There’s no chance I’m using more energy in a month of playing with stable diffusion with 10 second bursts of load than there is in an hour of playing a AAA game which will have my gaming system pulling about 260 watts sustained.
sapiogram 3y ago
> I read that each image generated might produce the same amount of carbon as driving four miles I can safely assure you that this is bullshit. Any electric car will use well over 1 Kwh to travel that distance. You can run two high-end GPUs for an hour with that amount of electricity. You're not spending two hours of GPU-time to generate your images.
goatlover 3y ago
Adds up to what? You think not driving 4 miles makes any real difference?
- nani8ot 3y ago
  Yes, because your not the only one driving four miles in a car and thinking it doesn't matter.
  - goatlover 3y ago
    It's not the driving four miles, it's that driving four miles requires fossil fuels for about 98% of cars. The problem isn't an individual one.
recursivecaveat 3y ago
According to somebody on reddit it takes 10s to get a decent 512x512 image with 60 iterations or so from their 3060. Those will draw 0.18 kilowatts at full load. Average US electricity will emit 0.86 pounds of carbon per kilowatt hour. EPA says average passenger car is 0.88 pounds of carbon per mile. If you multiply it through, that image generation is about as carbon intensive as moving the car 1 yard. If you're using a cloud farm it's probably much more efficient due to batching and larger industrial-grade GPUs I imagine.

by SamBam 3y ago

asynchronous 3y ago

There is quite literally no way that math is correct. Even in the absolute worst case scenario where your server farm was powered by coal plants exclusively this would not be the case.

evilduck 3y ago
Using a Kill-a-watt to measure, my M2 Max will pull around 60 watts for 10-15 seconds while running stable diffusion, and the Apple chips aren’t even especially suited for the task. Hosted services in data centers with Nvidia GPUs are probably more efficient per image. There’s no chance I’m using more energy in a month of playing with stable diffusion with 10 second bursts of load than there is in an hour of playing a AAA game which will have my gaming system pulling about 260 watts sustained.

sapiogram 3y ago

> I read that each image generated might produce the same amount of carbon as driving four miles I can safely assure you that this is bullshit. Any electric car will use well over 1 Kwh to travel that distance. You can run two high-end GPUs for an hour with that amount of electricity. You're not spending two hours of GPU-time to generate your images.

goatlover 3y ago

Adds up to what? You think not driving 4 miles makes any real difference?

nani8ot 3y ago
Yes, because your not the only one driving four miles in a car and thinking it doesn't matter.
- goatlover 3y ago
  It's not the driving four miles, it's that driving four miles requires fossil fuels for about 98% of cars. The problem isn't an individual one.

recursivecaveat 3y ago

According to somebody on reddit it takes 10s to get a decent 512x512 image with 60 iterations or so from their 3060. Those will draw 0.18 kilowatts at full load. Average US electricity will emit 0.86 pounds of carbon per kilowatt hour. EPA says average passenger car is 0.88 pounds of carbon per mile. If you multiply it through, that image generation is about as carbon intensive as moving the car 1 yard. If you're using a cloud farm it's probably much more efficient due to batching and larger industrial-grade GPUs I imagine.