The growing energy demand for artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to more than quadruple by 2030, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
AI is set to be the biggest single driver in a projected doubling of energy consumption by data centres worldwide within the same timescale.
Data centre energy use is predicted to rise to around 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030, which is slightly more than Japan’s entire annual energy use today.
However, the growing energy demands for AI could be offset by the technology itself helping to make energy use more efficient overall.
The net result could well be positive in terms of net zero ambitions, with increased AI adoption leading to a reduction in carbon emissions overall.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said that the rise of AI was placing the energy sector at “the forefront of one of the most important technological revolutions of our time”.
He added that AI had the potential to be an incredibly powerful tool but that it was up to governments, businesses and societies as a whole to decide how to use it.
AI adoption could lead to major energy efficiency gains
There are numerous ways that AI could help to save energy elsewhere, including finding efficiencies in large-scale energy systems and industrial processes.
AI could also be used to enable national grid systems to adapt to using more renewable energy, including storing and managing power from unpredictable sources such as wind and solar.
Another area that could benefit from AI is the transport sector, in technologies such as driverless vehicles and designing more efficient public transport systems and traffic management.
Energy demand for AI and data centres in general will vary between different countries, with data centre usage expected to account for nearly half the overall growth in energy demand in the US over the next five years.
This means that data processing – driven largely by AI – will consume more electricity in the US than the production of all energy-intensive goods, including aluminium, steel, cement and chemicals combined.
Data is projected to account for closer to 20% of the growth in energy demand across other advanced economies as a whole.
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