Datacentres are consuming 6% of electricity in the UK and US, with the growing strain of AI on energy supplies prompting community resistance, according to research.<\/p>\n
The proportion of electricity used by vast warehouses stacked with microchips to power AI and the internet has risen 15% worldwide in the past two years as annual global investment in datacentres approaches $1tn (\u00a3740bn) \u2013 nearly 1% of the global economy, according to the International Data Center Association (IDCA).<\/p>\n
The figures come amid energy shortages in the UK and datacentre developers reporting waits of several years for national grid connections. The IDCA said rising power usage globally was \u201csparking societal and political concerns\u201d and called on tech companies to become more transparent about their plans for new datacentres to tackle \u201ccommunity frustration\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Guardian this week reported<\/a> that developers working for Google<\/a> significantly misstated how much carbon two proposed AI datacentres would contribute to the UK\u2019s total emissions.<\/p>\n \u201cSignificant community and political pushback starts to occur in nations once their datacentre footprints have reached the 5% consumption level of national grids,\u201d the IDCA research concludes.<\/p>\n In early 2025, the UK government estimated<\/a> UK datacentres used 2.5% of electricity, but predicted this would increase fourfold by 2030. In the first half of 2025 the queue to connect to the grid grew<\/a> by 460%.<\/p>\n The UK, where 5.9% of electricity is used by datacentres, and the US, where the figure is 6%, are well above the global average of 2%. Tech use in Singapore and Lithuania is placing an even heavier burden on power supplies with 19% and 11% respectively of these countries\u2019 national grid energy now consumed by datacentres.<\/p>\n Microsoft claims its new datacentre in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, is the world\u2019s most powerful. Photograph: Audrey Richardson\/Reuters<\/p>\n Responding to the rising power use, Greenpeace UK warned that an \u201cunchecked AI boom\u201d would mean higher energy bills, more stress on water supplies and \u201ca new lifeline for fossil fuels\u201d.<\/p>\n Doug Parr, the campaign group\u2019s chief scientist, said: \u201cBefore being swept along by the enthusiasm of tech billionaires whose profits depend on this expansion, we should pause and ask ourselves whether it\u2019s worth the price.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need more transparency about the amount of water and energy used by data centres, proper environmental impact assessments, and a ban on new polluting plants being built to power AI.\u201d<\/p>\n There are now estimated to be about 10,000 datacentres worldwide, the largest of which include Microsoft\u2019s new 1.2m sq ft (about 11,500 sq metre) Mount Pleasant datacentre in Wisconsin, which it bills as the world\u2019s most powerful.<\/p>\n