⚡ 550% increase in data centers led to only 6% higher electricity consumption

• More efficient computer chips have reduced energy intensity by 99 percent since 2008.
• Data centers and AI consume about two percent of global electricity consumption.
• IEA predicts that data centers will account for only 3 percent of increased electricity consumption by 2030.

Current electricity consumption for AI and data centers

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers, AI and cryptocurrencies consumed around 460 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2022, corresponding to just under two percent of global electricity consumption, writes Hannah Ritchie.

Researcher Alex de Vries has calculated the energy consumption for AI servers delivered in 2023. If all these servers were to run at full capacity, they would consume between 5 and 10 TWh - a small portion of the total consumption for data centers.

In some countries, the share is higher than the global average. In Ireland, data centers account for 17 percent of the country's electricity consumption. In the US and parts of Europe, the figure is 3-4 percent. In more than five US states, data centers account for over 10 percent of electricity consumption.

Future energy needs

IEA's World Energy Outlook report shows that data centers will account for 223 TWh of the total increase of over 6000 TWh by 2030. This corresponds to only 3 percent of the expected increase.

Other factors such as industry, electric vehicles, and increased use of air conditioning are expected to have a greater impact on electricity consumption. Even in IEA's scenario with rapid AI growth, data centers remain a relatively small part of the total increase.

Technical advances reduce energy needs

The efficiency of data centers has improved significantly. Computer chip energy intensity is now less than 1 percent compared to 2008. Between 2010 and 2018, global data processing in data centers increased by over 550 percent, while energy use only increased by 6 percent.

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