Data Centers Are Sending Global Electricity Demand Soaring

Oil Price ^ | 12/06/2024 | Felicity Bradstock

[SeekAndFind]

• The rapid growth of data centers to support AI is significantly increasing global electricity demand.

• This surge in demand threatens to outpace the development of renewable energy sources.

• International regulations are needed to ensure tech companies use clean energy and minimize their impact on climate goals.

The global electricity demand is expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades, largely due to an increased demand from tech companies for new data centers to support the rollout of high-energy-consuming advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). As governments worldwide introduce new climate policies and pump billions into alternative energy sources and clean tech, these efforts may be quashed by the increased electricity demand from data centers unless greater international regulatory action is taken to ensure that tech companies invest in clean energy sources and do not use fossil fuels for power.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report in October entitled “What the data centre and AI boom could mean for the energy sector”. It showed that with investment in new data centers surging over the past two years, particularly in the U.S., the electricity demand is increasing rapidly – a trend that is set to continue.

The report states that in the U.S., annual investment in data center construction has doubled in the past two years alone. China and the European Union are also seeing investment in data centers increase rapidly. In 2023, the overall capital investment by tech leaders Google, Microsoft, and Amazon was greater than that of the U.S. oil and gas industry, at approximately 0.5 percent of the U.S. GDP.

The tech sector expects to deploy AI technologies more widely in the coming decades as the technology is improved and becomes more ingrained in everyday life.

[piasa]

High demand=higher electric bills

[eyedigress]

SMR stock was 2 bucks this year. Its over 24 now.

NuScale.

12 fold.

[eyedigress]

Same with Nano Nuc.

NNE

[Secret Agent Man]

Data centers

Bitcoin mining warehouses

Hackers

Militaries computer systems

[Texas_Jarhead]

Ok, tell me if I'm off base here for a free-market solution. Keeping in mind that the power system serves as a public service as a shared utility with equal access. Perhaps this could be sanctioned at the provider level.

When an individual consumer of electricity increases their consumption relative to the provider's ability to produce power, be it local, regional or state then the customer is charged a premium. Maybe a fairly steep premium. Call it a privately subsidized credit from the large consumers to ensure access to the power market by the little guy. This would allow the power provider to keep pace with demand and maintain or expand infrastructure? Does this violet a principal that my gin cannot bring to mind presently?

[Manic_Episode]

All these power sucking data centers have their own back up systems and back up systems for the back up systems, i.e. their own power generators on site.

Make them use them.

[Reeses]

Real GDP is strongly correlated with total energy consumption. In fact, the only differences between the two are variations in energy use efficiency, which long term are temporary.

The USA has 4% of the world population, but accounts for 25% of world wealth production, and not coincidentally, consumes 25% of world energy. Jobs pay higher in the USA due to higher levels of automation, which continues to increase, though greatly slowed by imported distortions to the job market.

A country's standard of living is proportional to total energy consumption, and higher consumption is only possible using automation.

Free market energy producers hate big government, which is why leftists always nationalize or destroy the producers they cannot shake down. Leftist hate for atmospheric carbon, the star player in the carbon cycle and the limiting resource for all organic life on earth, is just a proxy for the left side of the bell curve hating the right.

[PeaRidge]

The Krell encountered and solved this problem eons ago, with unintended consequences.

[lasereye]

I own it. I just added some more. i also own OKLO, UEC and CCJ.

[minnesota_bound]

SLURP....!
Just add windmills and solar panels on the rooftops of the data centers...

[PubliusMM]

Or, small nuclear plants. They power a nuclear submarine for 20+ years on less than 50 pounds of fuel. Same should apply to physical plants on land, with the main problem likely to be cooling water/tower, maybe?

Stop the gnashing of teeth over this crap. Produce the power.

[jdt1138]

The Krell encountered and solved this problem eons ago, with unintended consequences.

[ridesthemiles]

WAIT UNTIL COMMUNITIES find out how much WATER these places use EVERY SINGLE DAY...

USE-—DO NOT RECYCLE——USE

[ridesthemiles]

THEY USE A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF WATER DAILY-—

TO KEEP THE SERVERS COOL.

USE-—NOT RECYCLE-—OVER 450,000 gallons a day

[Vaduz]

The rapid growth of data centers to support AI is significantly increasing global electricity demand.

They should be made to produce their own electricity the demand keeps out pacing the production of it why keep stiffing the little people (worker bees).

[ConservativeMind]

Polywell Computer is still around? I have a history with them.

Incredible!

[ConservativeMind]

Nano and NUC systems:

https://www.polywell.com/nuc-and-nano-size

[Albion Wilde]

I hope Trump will bring back coal and all other fossil fuel industries, plus increase nuclear R&D. Now that gays are running everything, maybe we can stop letting envirowackos run everything.

[minnesota_bound]

#12 California regulations requirements: add windmills and solar panels on the rooftops of the nuclear power plants 😜