Computing centres that process and store large and growing amounts of data are major consumers of electricity. This is particularly true of companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency sectors: in 2022, altogether they consumed 460 terawatt hours (TWh) of electrical energy, or 2% of global electricity consumption (and the equivalent of France’s electricity consumption in 2023). The IEA (International Energy Agency) estimated that, given the rapid development of the AI sector, its consumption might double by 2026 to 1,000 TWh. According to current figures quoted by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), the combined electricity consumption of the ‘big four’ — Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) — will have doubled between 2017 and 2021, reaching 72 TWh (17% of France’s).
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23 April 2020, Middenmeer, Holland. Aerial view of new Google and Netflix datacenter HPE Nimble.
Faced with the need to secure their electricity supply in the future, American AI companies are considering giving preference to ‘clean’ electricity sources, produced without CO2 emissions, in
