Big Tech is going big on energy. Data centres for artificial intelligence applications will require extra electricity supply, which makes the energy transition a more burdensome exercise. But even so, there is a good chance that AI’s climate benefits will eventually outweigh its costs.
The immediate problem is clear. The AI boom has led to a rush to build gas-fired power plants. The intermittency of renewables means that it will be hard to make data centres truly green — which helps explain why the likes of Google are turning to still-theoretical nuclear fusion.
Yet while AI-related demand is a new addition to energy transition plans, in absolute terms it will be a relatively small part of the overall system. For context, data centres today consume 415 terawatt hours of electricity — equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of global demand, says the International Energy Agency. While the IEA predicts this will more than double to 945 TWh by 2030, electric vehicles and air conditioning will be bigger contributors to demand growth.