"Every online interaction relies on a scaffolding of information stored in remote servers—and those machines, stacked together in data centers worldwide, require a lot of energy. Around the globe, data centers currently account for about 1 to 1.5 percent of global electricity use, according to the International Energy Agency. And the world’s still-exploding boom in artificial intelligence could drive that number up a lot—and fast.Researchers have been raising general alarms about AI’s hefty energy requirements over the past few months. But a peer-reviewed analysis published this week in Joule is one of the first to quantify the demand that is quickly materializing. A continuation of the current trends in AI capacity and adoption are set to lead to NVIDIA shipping 1.5 million AI server units per year by 2027. These 1.5 million servers, running at full capacity, would consume at least 85.4 terawatt-hours of electricity annually—more than what many small countries use in a year, according to the new assessment." Link
I have added the that is US servers only. With data security and data redundancy geographical global data centers will be as big again. Do you think having our banking and superannuation data stored offshore is likely any time soon? I don't.
Bill Gates Terra power 2030 start date is a new starting point perhaps. Data power is 100% 24/ 7 365 and more redundancy. Texas power outages 2021 makes onsite or local SMR a part of the New AI power demand almost certain. Variable part time, weather dependent and seasonal power types will not cut it. https://datacenter.com/news_and_insight/data-center-redundancy-2plus1-2n-distributed-redundancy/.
