The U.S.’s electricity demand for data centers has tripled over the last decade. It is expected to further double or triple by 2028, according to the report published by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

The report examines the energy use of U.S. data centers, including servers, storage, network equipment, and infrastructure, between 2014 and 2028.

The report notes that data centers consumed approximately 4.4% or 176 TWh of the total U.S. electricity in 2023 and are projected to consume approximately 6.7% to 12% or 325 TWh to 580 TWh by 2028.

The report was written to meet the Energy Act of 2020 requirements, which mandate that the Department of Energy update the Berkeley Lab’s 2016 data center energy usage study. The original report considered the data center electricity usage from 2000 onwards.

The updated analysis adds to the 2016 report using the bottom-up approach. This method involves collecting specific data on the types of IT equipment in data centers. It is considered accurate because it involves careful data collection and detailed modeling by experts.

Electricity consumption by U.S. data centers shows a compound annual growth rate of approximately 7% from 2014 to 2018, increasing to 18% between 2018 and 2023 and then ranging from 13% to 27% between 2023 and 2028.

Energy consumption by data centers was approximately 60 TWh between 2014 and 2016. By 2018, it increased to 76 TWh, driven by the growing use of GPU-accelerated servers for AI-based tasks. These technologies are anticipated to further drive energy demand in the future.

Servers’ operational time depends on their type and location. Conventional servers in smaller or internal data centers were utilized 11% of the time in 2014, rising to 20% by 2027. Server usage in co-location data centers increased from 21% to 35%. Hyperscale data centers grew from 45% in 2014 to 50% in 2027.

AI servers used for training operated at an 80% operational time. These servers operated consistently at 40% while used for inference.

Training server usage from 2024 to 2028 may vary between 75% and 85% and inference server utilization between 37.5% and 42.5%, reflecting possible future changes in usage patterns.

This surge in data center electricity demand should be understood in the context of the much larger electricity demand expected over the next few decades from a combination of electric vehicle adoption, onshoring of manufacturing, hydrogen utilization, and the electrification of industry and buildings.

The report observes that the server cooling systems add to the data centers’ electricity usage.

The report recommends using new efficiency strategies, including further decarbonization of the power sector, to mitigate the environmental impact of the data centers’ rising energy demands.

Renewable Energy Usage

The report noted that the data center industry has shown interest and leadership in implementing real-time renewable energy and zero-carbon power, including battery storage resources. Future research efforts should include working with utilities and data center companies to develop strategies that can quantify the potential costs and benefits of investing in large-scale, customer-driven renewable energy projects and new firm clean power, including scalable nuclear generation.

The Berkeley Lab report said, “Research initiatives are needed not just to identify strategies to meet data centers’ future energy needs but also to help stakeholders use this relatively near-term electricity demand for data centers as an opportunity to develop the leadership and a foundation for an economy-wide electricity infrastructure expansion,” the report said.

A report by the International Energy Agency noted that data centers are now among the most active purchasers of clean electricity through power purchase agreements. Companies like Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft led the way in sustainable energy use for their data center operations.