How Much Energy Do Data Centers and Artificial Intelligence Use?

• Data centers currently consume approximately 1.5% of global electricity, with AI-specific facilities accounting for about 0.5%.
• Electricity demand is highly concentrated; in the US, data centers account for 5% of total demand, reaching over 25% in specific states like Virginia.
• Individual AI query energy usage is relatively low: a median text-based query consumes about 0.24 watt-hours (Wh), though complex agentic tasks can require up to 50 Wh.
• Future energy projections are uncertain and rely heavily on efficiency gains in hardware versus the growth in user demand.

Data Center Energy Consumption

• Global data center electricity demand reached roughly 485 TWh in 2025, according to the IEA.
• AI-focused data centers represent about one-third of total data center power usage.
• Discrepancies between data sources (such as the IEA versus S&P/Energy Institute) stem partly from the inclusion of cryptocurrency mining in some datasets and varying methodological approaches.

Environmental and Local Implications

• The primary concern is not total global consumption but local grid strain and the carbon intensity of the energy sources powering these centers.
• Emissions impacts depend more on whether the power source is coal-based, nuclear, or renewable rather than the absolute amount of electricity consumed.
• AI adoption may act as a bottleneck for its own expansion if power infrastructure cannot scale to meet regional demand spikes.