Report: Data Centers to Consume a Significant Portion of Global Energy
A report issued by the International Energy Agency forecasts a 13% global increase in electricity consumption by data centers by 2030 due to rising demand for digital services and the sheer volume of generated data.
The report clarified that data centers consumed 1.5% of the world’s energy last year, equivalent to 415 terawatt-hours. It pointed out that the United States is the largest consumer at 45%, followed by China at 25%, and then Europe at 15%.
The report indicated an anticipated annual growth rate of 35% in demand for hyperscale data centers until 2040.
It noted that Google consumed approximately 2.6 billion megawatt-hours of energy globally in 2011, equivalent to the annual production of 650 wind turbines.
The United States leads the list of countries with the most data centers, with 5426. Germany follows with 529, then Britain in third place with 523, France fourth with 322, and Australia fifth with 314.
The Netherlands ranks sixth with 298, Russia seventh with 251, Italy eighth with 168, Mexico ninth with 173, and Poland tenth with 144.
It is known that a typical AI-powered data center consumes the equivalent of 100,000 homes in electricity. The global investment in data centers has reached half a trillion dollars from 2022 to date.
Carbon emissions from electricity use in data centers are estimated to be around 300 million tons by 2030, with a likely increase to 500 million tons.
