The water requirement for cooling also increases rapidly (Photo: FreePik, Dasun404Malaka)
Freiburg im Breisgau – The increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) drives energy consumption up in data centers. According to calculations of the Eco-institute on behalf of Greenpeace Germany the electricity consumption in the range will increase by eleven times by 2030 – from currently around 50 to around 550 billion kilowatt hours.
More emissions
According to the forecasts, around 1,400 billion kilowatt hours of electricity are used for central data processing together with the other data centers in 2030. This is associated with an increase in greenhouse gas emissions from data centers from 212 million tons (2023) to 355 million tons (year 2030).
According to the experts, further burdens from the water requirement for cooling, which then almost quadrupled in the same period at 664 billion liters, as well as the up to five million tons of additional electronics waste, which arise from the expansion of data centers and the necessary AI capacity in view of increasing usage rates.
Still dependent on fossil fuels
According to the experts, AI is already used to accelerate environmentally harmful business practices – for example for faster and more effective development of new fossil energy sources. This continues to promote monocultures and strength of private consumption. Negative environmental effects are also unintentionally possible due to errors in the data basis.
“In the coming years, data centers will continue to be dependent on fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal-with correspondingly high ecological costs,” said Jens Gröger, research coordinator for sustainable digital infrastructures at the ecoo institute.
Source: www.pressetext.com
(PTE022/14.05.2025/12:30)