As global demand for internet services and artificial intelligence continues to grow, the data centres that support them could double their electricity consumption in just two years. That means they would devour as much energy in 2026 as the entire nation of Japan, with a population of 125 million, does today.
The finding comes from an International Energy Agency , which estimates that global data centre electricity consumption 鈥� including AI services and cryptocurrencies 鈥� could rise from 460 terawatt-hours in 2022 to more than 1000 terawatt-hours by 2026. A terawatt-hour is the amount of energy equivalent to producing 1 trillion watts for 1 hour. It will be 鈥渃rucial to moderate the surge in energy consumption from data centres鈥�, the agency wrote in the report. To do so, the IEA recommends setting new regulations and making technological improvements to boost data centres鈥� energy efficiency.
Mitigating measures like those could determine whether, by 2026, data centres end up consuming as few as 620 terawatt-hours or as many as 1050.
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The world currently relies on about 8000 data centres, with the US having roughly 33 per cent of the total share followed by 16 per cent in Europe and 10 per cent in China. Data centres in all these regions are expected to experience significant growth.
In the US, for instance, more than one-third of increased electricity demand between now and 2026 is expected to come from data centre expansion. That means these facilities would leap from consuming 4 per cent of all electricity in the US in 2022 to 6 per cent by 2026.
The European Union can expect data centre electricity consumption to rise from just under 100 terawatt-hours in 2022 to almost 150 terawatt-hours by 2026. Ireland alone could see data centre electricity consumption increase from 17 per cent of its national total in 2022 鈥� already equivalent to the electricity consumed by all its urban residential buildings 鈥� to 32 per cent of the national total by 2026.
Meanwhile, China鈥檚 data centre sector could consume around 300 terawatt-hours by 2026, up from about 200 terawatt-hours now.
The good news is that the IEA expects the world鈥檚 overall increase in electricity demand to be covered by a record-breaking surge in electricity generation from low-emissions sources, including nuclear power and renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydro. But meeting increased electricity demand may be more difficult for individual regions and communities.
