Chapter 08 · Finance, data & evidenceData, Technology & Verification Systems
Data center
Definition
A data center is a facility housing servers, storage and networking equipment along with the power and cooling systems that support them. The International Energy Agency estimates data centers consumed roughly 415 TWh of electricity in 2024 — about 1.5 per cent of global consumption — and projects demand could more than double to around 945 TWh by 2030, driven by artificial intelligence workloads.
References
415 TWh (2024) and ~945 TWh (2030) estimates
global share data
Overview
What it means
The physical backbone of digitalisation, whose electricity and water demand makes the digital economy a material energy-policy issue.
How it is used
The term anchors efficiency metrics (PUE), renewable procurement by hyperscalers, grid-planning debates and emerging disclosure rules on data-center energy and water use.
Why it matters
Data-center growth is one of the fastest-moving variables in electricity-demand forecasts; how it is powered materially affects national emissions trajectories.