U.S. energy demand has peaked in 2024, but the country is preparing for even greater growth over the next three years. The reason: data centers and the consumption of AI.
Triple in just three years. Data center energy consumption could triple by 2028 as the technology industry undergoes an unprecedented transformation driven by artificial intelligence, according to the US Department of Energy.
Currently, data centers represent just over 4% of the country’s energy load. A new report prepared by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory projects that they will reach between 6.7 and 12% of total electricity consumption in just three years.
More than entire countries. Between 2014 and 2016, annual electricity demand from data centers in the United States remained stable at around 60 TWh. Starting in 2017, the rapid adoption of servers with artificial intelligence accelerators (mainly graphics cards or GPUs) drove an increase in energy demand that has not yet peaked.
By 2023, consumption will reach 176 TWh (4.4% of total electricity in the US). It is projected that in 2028, total consumption will fluctuate between 325 and 580 TWh: from 6.7% to 12% of national electricity consumption. Assuming a usage rate of 50%, the demand for data centers would be between 74 and 132 gigawatts, more than the entire installed power of countries such as France or Italy.
The limit is imposed by the GPUs. Data center energy demand has already doubled between 2017 and 2023 with the deployment of new servers dedicated to training and processing artificial intelligence.
Generative AI models, which are growing exponentially in both size and inference time, require increasingly powerful chips and more intense cooling systems, which skyrockets energy consumption. The ranges projected by the Department of Energy do not depend on whether interest in AI rises or falls, but rather on whether there are enough GPUs available.
Anticipate demand. The report attempts to predict the effect of data centers on the power grid, electricity Price and climate. “It really tells us where the frontier is in terms of growing energy demand in the United States,” Avi Shultz, director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Decarbonization and Industrial Efficiency, told Reuters.
“What this report highlights is what is growing the fastest, and at the forefront of the growth in energy demand in the United States is the new growth of data centers for artificial intelligence.”
Where does so much energy come from? AI is the main factor in the increase in American energy demand. Google and Microsoft already consume more electricity than 100 different countries. But AI will be accompanied by the electrification of buildings and transportation, as well as the opening of new factories as the country revives domestic industry.
Where does all that electricity come from? With their income, large technology companies are investing in research into clean energy sources, including nuclear fusion, while promoting renewables, the reopening of old fission reactors and the development of new SMR reactors.
Image | Talen, Cumulus
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