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How much electricity do data centers use?
Available estimates show fast-growing electricity demand, but the figures differ by geography, year, and method. They are not all readings from audited meters at individual facilities.
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| Geography and period | Electricity estimate | What the figure means |
|---|---|---|
| United States, 2023 | 176 TWh, about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity | Historical estimate in the 2024 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report, summarized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). |
| United States, 2028 | 325–580 TWh, about 6.7–12% of total U.S. electricity | DOE’s summary of LBNL scenario projections, not observed consumption. |
| Worldwide, 2024 | 415 TWh, around 1.5% of global electricity | International Energy Agency (IEA) estimate in its 2025 Energy and AI report. |
| Worldwide, 2030 | Around 945 TWh | IEA base-case scenario projection in its 2025 report, not a measured future total. |
LBNL’s 2024 U.S. Data Center Energy Usage Report estimates historical consumption using prior studies and historical shipment data, with scenarios through 2028. DOE’s summary says U.S. data centers used an estimated 58 TWh in 2014 and 176 TWh in 2023. These estimates are useful for understanding national scale, but they are not a public ledger of every facility’s meter readings.
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The IEA’s global estimate puts the sector at a modest share of worldwide electricity, but that average can conceal concentrated demand. In 2024, the IEA attributed 45% of global data-center electricity use to the United States, 25% to China, and 15% to Europe. A large facility or cluster can matter considerably to a local grid even when the global percentage looks small.
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How much water do data centers use?
There is no comprehensive, current public total in the cited sources for water use at every data center. Water demand varies with facility design, cooling equipment, climate, and operations. A national or company-wide number cannot by itself establish the effect of a particular site.
Cooling is one reason water use varies. In a common evaporative cooling arrangement, cooling towers reject heat by evaporation. The water required depends in part on the facility’s heat load and how efficiently that heat is removed. Other sites and operating conditions may differ, so a single sector-wide water figure would need a clearly stated boundary and method to be meaningful.
Direct water and electricity-related water are different
Direct water use refers to water entering or used at the data-center site for its functions, including cooling. Electricity generation can also use water, but that is an indirect impact outside the facility boundary. Combining the two without labeling them obscures what is being counted. The EU reporting framework, for example, defines total water input at the data-center boundary; it does not make that figure a measure of water used to generate the site’s electricity.
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Input, withdrawal, and consumption are not interchangeable
Water input describes what enters a defined boundary. Withdrawal generally refers to water taken from a source, while consumption describes water that is not returned to the same local system, such as water lost to evaporation. These terms can represent different quantities. A comparison should use the source’s own definitions rather than treating them as synonyms.
Why are local water impacts hard to see?
A global company total may identify broad sourcing patterns without revealing the source or consequences of water use at an individual facility. Berkeley Law’s 2026 California-focused report finds that operators may publish sustainability goals and totals, but very few report locally relevant details about water sources or effects on other users and ecosystems. That finding concerns disclosure in the report’s scope; it does not mean every operator reports nothing.
Sites may draw water through municipal potable providers, direct surface-water diversions, groundwater pumping, or alternative sources such as recycled municipal wastewater. Local conditions matter: the same volume can have different consequences depending on the watershed, utility, season, and competing needs. The Berkeley Law report also notes that discharges can contain concentrated minerals, chemical additives, and pollutants.
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The report reproduces Equinix’s company-reported worldwide figures for 2024: 94% of its facility water came from municipal sources and 6% directly from groundwater; 37% was described as nonpotable, such as recycled water. Those are worldwide company figures, not a breakdown for a California site or an estimate for the data-center industry as a whole.
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Efficiency ratios help compare resource use relative to IT work, but they do not reveal absolute demand or local impact on their own.
- PUE (power usage effectiveness): DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program defines it as total annual facility energy divided by annual IT-equipment energy. A lower ratio indicates that less energy is used outside the IT equipment relative to the IT energy.
- WUE (water usage effectiveness): DOE defines it as annual site water use in liters divided by IT-equipment annual energy in kWh. It expresses site water use relative to IT energy.
A ratio can look favorable while a large facility still uses substantial electricity or water in absolute terms. WUE also does not identify whether water is potable, recycled, or drawn from a stressed source. To judge burden, pair each ratio with annual totals, the reporting period, site location, water sources, and the measurement boundary.
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What do operators and governments disclose?
Disclosure is neither entirely absent nor complete at the level needed to assess every community. The EU has a formal reporting framework, while national electricity estimates and corporate reports provide other kinds of information. These sources should not be mistaken for a complete public directory of facility-level water and power use.
European Union reporting
EU Commission Delegated Regulation 2024/1364 requires covered data-center operators to report specified information and indicators to a European database. The framework includes energy, installed IT power, water, PUE, WUE, and renewable-energy information. It distinguishes total water input from potable water input and provides for specified information to be made public in aggregate at Member State and EU levels. Aggregated publication is not the same as public access to every facility’s detailed consumption.
United States electricity estimates
The DOE’s 2024 release summarizes LBNL’s modeled national electricity estimates and future scenarios. They help quantify broad demand, but the cited materials do not establish a comprehensive facility-by-facility public water total. Berkeley Law’s 2026 California report describes the local water-disclosure gap in its state-focused review.
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How can you compare two data centers fairly?
Before drawing conclusions from a company claim or facility comparison, check that the figures use comparable boundaries, periods, and methods. A practical comparison should include:
- Boundary: Separate facility water input from water associated with electricity generation.
- Quantity and timing: Look for annual totals and, where available, peak electricity demand or peak water draw, with the reporting year stated.
- Measurement status: Identify whether a value is metered, modeled, company-reported, or forecast.
- Location and source: Seek the watershed or utility and whether the water is potable, recycled, groundwater, or surface water; consider local water stress.
- Design and efficiency: Note cooling approach, facility scale, PUE, and WUE, while keeping absolute totals in view.
- Disclosure scope: Distinguish an individual-site figure from a company-wide total or a government aggregate.
Without those details, a percentage or ratio may be accurate but still leave the central community question unanswered: how much resource demand does this specific site place on this specific system?
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