The report finds that data centers consumed about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023 and are expected to consume approximately 6.7 to 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028. The report indicates that total data center electricity usage climbed from 58 TWh in 2014 to 176 TWh in 2023 and estimates an increase between 325 to 580 TWh by 2028.
I see a lot of people arguing about datacenters and their resource consumption. So i think it is good to have actual numbers on how much resources are being consumed. This post only includes energy consumption because i’m too lazy to look up water consumption.
I don’t disagree, I think the main issue I can see is the rate of growth. I know renewable energy is increasing but I guess I just haven’t seen the numbers for that to quell the worry a lot of people have. From a pessimistic view it feels very capitalist to allow this amount of usage for the sake of business. And let’s be honest, a lot of data centers are running services the world doesn’t need