ACSA E-News

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Celebrate Snowmobile Day!

The International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association (ISMA) is pleased to announce:

Snowmobile Day - October 26, 2024, and International Snowmobile Ride Day - February 8, 2025

These events are geared to celebrate the sport of snowmobiling and the upcoming winter season. Snowmobile clubs, local dealers, associations, and snowmobile groups are invited to participate in these events.

ISMA encourages Snowmobile Clubs to host an event such as an open house at a Clubhouse, Hot Chocolate at a trail intersection, or BBQ at the trailhead to celebrate this day.

The snowmobile manufacturers of ISMA want to support Snowmobile Day and International Snowmobile Day in North America by offering up to $500.00 to select snowmobile clubs/associations participating in both events.

If your snowmobile club would like to be considered for this offer, please contact your State Association or email Susan.Andrews@snowomobile.org for the application form and submit it no later than September 23, 2024.

Forest Service Budget Woes

The Forest Service faces “enormous” budget challenges that will likely affect how employees go about their daily jobs, agency Chief Randy Moore said.

Federal agencies will likely keep going based on a continuing resolution in Congress, with final budget numbers once again poised to be delayed by months.

“There are no easy answers in a time where we see increased costs throughout the country — among them, housing, groceries and gas — that affect not just individuals but our agency as well,” Moore said. “We must make hard decisions, but we will be guided by our agency core values and share leadership as we navigate this challenge.”

He said the agency would maintain its focus on a 10-year wildfire strategy that includes a more intensive approach to forest thinning, prescribed fire and other measures to cut fire risks.

How Much Electricity Will AI Require?

Don't be in the dark about the true energy cost of AI

AI is energy-intensive. Big Tech is spending tens of billions on AI accelerators, which has led to a huge increase in power consumption. Over the past few months, multiple forecasts and data points reveal soaring electricity demand.

Estimates of necessary energy do exist, but the organizations best placed to share the numbers — companies like Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI — aren’t sharing the relevant information.

Morgan Stanley is estimating global data center power use will triple this year. Wells Fargo is projecting AI power demand to surge 550% by 2026.

What parts of AI are using all that energy?

A big unknown is where the servers are going to end up. That matters a whole lot, because if they’re at Google, then the additional cooling energy use is going to be somewhere in the range of a 10% increase. But global data centers, on average, will add 50% to the energy cost just to keep the machines cool.

AI power demand is forecast to rise at a rapid rate is showing no signs of slowing as Big Tech continues to spend billions on AI infrastructure.

Where will the energy come from? Is the grid ready?

The one thing we know and understand is supply and demand. And we understand the costs that are associated with that theory, get passed along to all of us. Which leaves with less for the fun things we enjoy in life!