Estimate and forcast of total U.S. data center electricity use including servers, storage, network equipment, and infrastructure from 2014 through 2028.
DOE report evaluates increasing electricity demand.
Data center electricity demand in the United States has tripled in the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028, according to the 2024 United States Data Center Usage Report from the Department of Energy (DOE).
The report examines historical data center electricity consumption back to 2014 and provides a range of scenarios for demand out to 2028. It also looks at cryptocurrency electricity use, server types and associated power draw, and water and emission impacts.
According to the report, US data center annual energy use remained stable in 2014–2016 at about 60 terawatt hours (TWh) and began to increase in 2017 as GPU-accelerated servers became a more significant part of data center server stock.
- By 2018, data centers consumed about 76 TWh, representing 1.9% of total annual US electricity consumption.
- By 2023, energy use reached 176 TWh, or about 4.4% of total consumption.
- The report estimates an increase to between 325 and 580 TWh by 2028.
The projected use estimates consider factors such as data center expansion, an increase in AI applications, domestic manufacturing growth, and more.
The report also details direct and indirect data center water usage and greenhouse gas emissions, noting that “with the projected growth of data centers’ energy use in the coming years, indirect water consumption and emissions are also expected to increase.”
Read the complete report at the Department of Energy.
