# Hazard: High Environmental Cost

```{image} ../../images/hazards/environment.png
:alt: A red diamond shaped outline (like a warning sign) with an image of a globe in the middle.
:width: 250px
```

## Description

This hazard is appropriate where methodologies are energy-hungry, data-hungry (requiring more and more computation), or require special hardware that require rare materials. 


## Examples

__Example 1:__ Cryptocurrency requires [vast energy usage](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56012952)

__Example 2:__ Language models [require larger and larger datasets](http://faculty.washington.edu/ebender/papers/Stochastic_Parrots.pdf)

## Safety Precautions

- Consider in what circumstances it is worthwhile to use this type of methodology.
- Consider future work that would reduce the need to use increasingly more resources.