How much energy do data centers really use?

by Eric Masanet and Nuoa Lei, Northwestern University

March 2020 Quarterly Research Review

As the number of global internet users has grown, so too has demand for data center services, giving rise to concerns about growing data center energy use. And new forms of information services such as artificial intelligence (AI), which are particularly computationally-intensive, may accelerate demand growth further. Therefore, the ability to quantify and project data center energy use is a key energy and climate policy priority.