US data center power demand could nearly triple in the next three years, and consume as much as 12 percent of the country's electricity, as the industry undergoes an artificial-intelligence transformation, according to a Department of Energy-backed report.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report comes as the US power industry and government agencies attempt to understand how the sudden rise of Big Tech's data-center demand will affect electrical grids, power bills, and the climate.
By 2028, data-center annual energy use could reach between 74 and 132 gigawatts, or between 6.7 percent and 12 percent of total US electricity consumption, according to the Berkeley Lab report.
The industry standard-setting report included ranges that depended partly on the availability and demand for a type of AI chip known as GPUs. Currently, data centers make up a little more than 4 percent of the country's power load.
