A new report estimates electricity demand for artificial intelligence could quadruple in the next five years.
Data center growth spurred largely by generative AI is expected to cause global energy demand to surge in the coming years and a report this week from the International Energy Agency provides new estimates on just how much. The amount of electricity needed for data centers worldwide is projected to more than double to roughly 945 terawatt-hours in 2030, which is more than what the entire country of Japan consumes today, according to the report. The popularity of gen AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini has soared in the past few years. These large language models and their kin require a huge amount of computing power, running on high-end graphics processing units like those manufactured by Nvidia. These not only need a lot of electricity to operate but they also generate heat -- meaning even more energy is required to keep them cool. All of that adds up quickly. About half of the increased demand for electricity in the US by 2030 is expected to be for data centers. Processing data is expected to need more electricity than manufacturing all "energy-intensive goods" together -- aluminum, steel, cement and chemicals, the IEA said. "AI is one of the biggest stories in the energy world today -- but until now, policymakers and markets lacked the tools to fully understand the wide-ranging impacts," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a press release. AI's energy use has policymakers worried The anticipated energy demand for AI has been well-documented and on the minds…