Scientists from the Ruhr University conquer the Academy of Sciences!

Scientists from the Ruhr University conquer the Academy of Sciences!

On May 14, 2025, the renowned professors Dr. Alfred Ludwig and Dr. Martin R. Hofmann from the Ruhr University Bochum was accepted into the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of Sciences and Arts (AWK). This honor not only underlines the outstanding scientific achievements of the two researchers, but also their contribution to the development of innovative technologies in their fields.

Professor Dr. Alfred Ludwig holds the chair “Materials Discovery and Interfaces” at the Institute of Materials. He is a new member of the engineering and economics class and is particularly committed to the efficient discovery of new materials with special properties. Ludwig is founding director of the Center for Interface-Dominated High-Performance Materials (ZGH) and co-founder of the “Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems” within the “Research Alliance Ruhr”. He also combines materials research with artificial intelligence methods to accelerate the material discovery process.

Research priorities

Professor Dr. Martin R. Hofmann, head of the Chair of Photonics and Terahertz Technology, is also new to the engineering and economics class. His current research project on energy-efficient and fast data transmission on the Internet is funded with 1.25 million euros by a Reinhart Koselleck project from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Hofmann is developing a method for data transmission using spin lasers that encode information in the polarization of the light. His focus also includes semiconductor lasers as well as optical imaging and terahertz technology.

The work of Ludwig and Hofmann shows how important interdisciplinary approaches are in today's research, especially in times of climate change and increasing energy demands due to artificial intelligence.

A look at the energy consumption of AI

The massive increase in energy consumption in data centers supporting artificial intelligence is alarming. It is estimated that energy consumption will rise to over 150 terawatt hours by 2030, almost tripling. Data centers currently account for around two percent of total European electricity consumption; that number could rise to five percent. Much of the energy still comes from fossil fuels, despite efforts by major providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google to switch to renewable energy daily news reported.

An example illustrates the extensive water consumption in AI applications: an estimated 5.4 million liters of water were required to train ChatGPT-3. This included 700,000 liters for cooling the data centers alone, a significant portion of which was used in the server manufacturing supply chain.

In Germany, the energy requirements of data centers increased by 70 percent from 2010 to 2022, which can be attributed to the increasing efficiency of servers. Interestingly, the share of renewable energy in electricity generation in Germany was 56 percent in 2023, while in Denmark and Norway it even reached 80.2 and 99 percent. However, the challenge remains to use the waste heat from servers to heat buildings, which requires the expansion of heating networks.

Given these challenges, it is reassuring to know that companies like Microsoft and Google are aiming for carbon neutrality by 2030 and are investing in research to reduce artificial intelligence's energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The increasing awareness of the energy consumption of AI applications emphasizes the need for massive investments in renewable energy and the expansion of electricity infrastructure to meet future demands, such as daily news emphasized.

The integration of artificial intelligence into various sectors can not only help optimize operating costs, it also offers potential for improving the carbon footprint. It therefore remains to be seen how developments in the areas of AI and energy consumption will develop in the coming years.