AI and crypto mining are driving up data centers' energy use

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Data centers’ electricity consumption is ballooning as cryptocurrencies and AI take hold, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.
By Justine Calma, a senior science reporter covering climate change, clean energy, and environmental justice with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home, a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.

Jan 24, 2024, 9:56 AM PST|2 Comments / 2 New

Data centers could gobble up twice as much electricity by 2026 thanks in large part to cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

We rely on data centers to store all our emails, photos, cat videos, and everything else floating around in the cloud. More and more, data centers are cropping up to mine Bitcoin and train AI.

Electricity demand for cryptocurrencies is expected to jump by 40 percent by 2026. There have been some success stories with limiting crypto’s energy and environmental footprints. The Ethereum blockchain was able to slash its electricity use by more than 99 percent by switching to a much more energy-efficient method of validating blocks of new transactions. Even so, the Bitcoin network has refused to follow suit and is responsible for a majority of the carbon emissions stemming from crypto mining.

Fortunately, the IEA also forecast accelerated renewable energy growth across the world, overtaking coal to generate more than a third of the world’s electricity by 2025. That still doesn’t solve all the challenges new data centers bring. It’s arguably just as important to improve energy efficiency — say, by adopting high-efficiency cooling systems — since too much growth in electricity demand can outpace the rise in renewables.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/24/24049047/data-center-ai-crypto-bitcoin-mining-electricity-report-iea