Data centres may use 33% of commercial electricity by 2050: US Energy Administration
Washington DC, May 21
Electricity consumption by data centre servers is projected to rise sharply in the coming decades, with server electricity use expected to account for 22 per cent to 33 per cent of commercial building electricity consumption by 2050, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
In its Annual Energy Outlook 2026 (AEO2026), the EIA stated that electricity consumed by data centre servers will continue increasing across the commercial building sector, with the strongest growth expected in standalone data centers compared to other data center rooms combined.
It stated "Data centre server electricity use grows to 22%-33% of commercial building electricity use by 2050 across our cases"
The report projected that server electricity consumption alone could reach between 446 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) and 818 billion BkWh by 2050 across different scenarios.
The highest estimate reflects faster growth in server power demand and installed server stock under the High Electricity Demand case.
According to the outlook, standalone data centres, which are included in the "other buildings" category, are projected to consume 581 BkWh of electricity from servers alone by 2050 under the High Electricity Demand case.
The report noted that servers accounted for an estimated 7 per cent of total commercial sector electricity consumption in 2025. However, growing deployment of servers, particularly AI-related infrastructure, is expected to significantly increase electricity demand in the coming years.
The EIA stated that commercial sector electricity intensity, measured in kilowatthours consumed per square foot, is projected to exceed the previous historical high of 14.9 kWh per square foot recorded in 2003. The new peak is expected between 2031 and 2032.
The report attributed the increase in commercial energy intensity largely to data centre servers and associated systems such as cooling and ventilation required to maintain server operations.
According to the EIA, data centre servers require intensive cooling systems to ensure chips and IT equipment operate efficiently.
The agency estimated that space cooling requirements in data centre floorspace are as much as 2.9 times more energy intensive than non-data centre commercial floorspace on average.
The report also stated that electricity consumption for space cooling in the High Electricity Demand case is projected to be 84 BkWh higher in 2050 compared to the Counterfactual Baseline case, mainly due to more intensive data centre operations.
The outlook further stated that under the Counterfactual Baseline case, server efficiency is expected to improve after 2040, resulting in a 10 per cent reduction in average annual operational power draw every three years beyond historical efficiency trends.
However, despite efficiency gains, overall electricity consumption is still expected to rise due to continued growth in server installations.
— ANI
Reader Comments
This is alarming for countries like India where we already struggle with power cuts in summer. If US data centres are projected to consume a third of commercial electricity, imagine what it means here where we're building so many new data parks in Hyderabad and Chennai. We need to push harder for liquid cooling and renewable-powered facilities instead of just building more coal plants. 🌐
I run a small cloud services company in Mumbai and we're already feeling the pinch. Our electricity bills have doubled in the last three years despite adding more efficient servers. The EIA report makes it clear - without breakthrough cooling technologies or nuclear-powered data centres, we're heading for an energy crisis. Its ironic that AI which promises to save energy in other sectors might be the one that consumes it all!
While I appreciate the US data, I wonder what India's own projections look like. Our IT minister keeps talking about making India a data centre hub, but are we accounting for this 2.9x cooling energy intensity? We're already building massive facilities in places like Noida and Pune - without proper energy planning, we'll end up either with higher electricity costs for households or rolling blackouts. Need more foresight from our policymakers. 🇮🇳
The efficiency gains mentioned in the report are promising but 10% reduction every three years after 2040 won't cut it when server installations keep growing exponentially. We need to think beyond just hardware efficiency - maybe locating data centres in cooler regions like Ladakh or using immersion cooling? Also, renewable energy credits won't solve the base load problem. Time for some difficult conversations about AI usage and energy trade-offs. 🤔
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.