How much energy does a data centre consume? Facts that will surprise you.

Data centre versus city: an unexpected comparison

Imagine this: one average data centre consumes as much electricity as is needed to power 50,000 households. And the largest data centres in the world can consume up to 150 megawatts — that's like three small power plants operating around the clock.

According to international research, data centres consumed about 415 terawatt-hours of electricity annually worldwide in 2024. This is roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of France or the United Kingdom. By 2030, this figure could double to 945 terawatt-hours — more than Japan consumes.

What exactly consumes energy in a data centre?

If we break down the energy consumption of a data centre into its components, the picture looks like this:

Servers and computing equipment account for about 40% of all energy. This is the «brain» of the data centre, where all the work takes place: data processing, information storage, programme execution.

Cooling systems — 30% to 40% of energy consumption. It may come as a surprise, but cooling is a real electricity guzzler. Servers work like thousands of computers gathered in one room and generate a huge amount of heat. Without powerful air conditioning systems, the equipment will simply overheat and fail.

Network equipment and data storage systems — about 10% of energy goes to routers, switches, and disk arrays.

Auxiliary systems — the rest of the energy is spent on lighting, security systems, fire protection, and other infrastructure needs.

Interesting facts that will surprise even experts

Fact №1. One degree matters

Raising the temperature in a data centre by just 1°C can save up to $350,000 a year in cooling costs. That is why modern data centres operate at a temperature of 25-27°C, rather than 18-20°C, as was once the case. Previously, some data centres maintained a temperature of 13°C, so you had to wear a jacket to go in.

Fact №2. Virginia is the data centre capital of the world

In the state of Virginia, USA, data centres consume 26% of the state's total electricity — three times more than the national average. In Loudoun County, data centres consumed 21% of electricity in 2023, surpassing even residential consumption (18%).

Fact №3. Artificial intelligence is the new energy monster

Training a single large artificial intelligence model, such as ChatGPT, can consume about 50 gigawatt-hours of energy — enough to power San Francisco for three days. Forecasts show that by 2027, data centres that work with AI will consume 146 terawatt-hours — that's like 15 million American households.

Fact №4. Google consumes more energy than entire countries

The data centres of large technology companies (Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Microsoft) together consume over 90 terawatt-hours of energy per year — more than Finland, Belgium or Chile.

Fact №5. Liquid cooling — a revolution in data centre energy efficiency

The latest liquid cooling systems can reduce energy consumption for cooling by 27% compared to traditional air cooling. Some innovative companies even immerse servers in a special liquid — it looks like something out of a science fiction film, but it works.

Efficiency matters: PUE

Experts measure the efficiency of data centres using PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness). It shows the ratio of total energy consumed to the energy directly used by IT equipment.

An ideal PUE of 1.0 means that all energy is used solely to power the servers. The global average is 1.55-1.67. The most advanced hyperscale data centres achieve PUE values of 1.1-1.2.

Data centres in the most unusual places: how to save millions on electricity

When we talk about data centres, we usually imagine huge buildings in industrial areas. But some companies have gone much further and placed their servers where you would never expect to find them. And this isn't just exoticism for the sake of PR — it's a radical way to reduce the energy consumption in data centres that we talked about earlier.

Underwater: Atlantis data centres save millions

Remember that 30-40% of a data centre's energy goes to cooling? This is where underwater data centres show their strength. In 2015, Microsoft submerged a sealed metal container with a single rack for 24 servers off the coast of California. This was Project Natick, an experiment with underwater data centres that ran for two years.

Following the successful results of the first project in 2018, Project Natick 2 was launched, in which a capsule containing 12 server racks was submerged off the coast of the Orkney Islands (Scotland). The results of the second phase were impressive not only in terms of reliability but also energy efficiency (average PUE was 1.07). The ocean water maintains a stable temperature of around 10-15°C, which allowed the servers to cool naturally — with virtually no air conditioning costs.

In rocks and bunkers: when a mountain acts as an air conditioner

If you have ever watched James Bond films, you will easily recognise the Pionen data centre in Stockholm. Located 30 metres below the cliffs, this former nuclear bunker not only looks like a supervillain's base with artificial waterfalls and greenery, but also uses the stable temperature of the rock to cool itself. The result is a significantly lower PUE and millions of kronor in electricity savings each year.

In Norway, Green Mountain has converted a former NATO ammunition storage facility inside a mountain into one of Europe's most energy-efficient data centres. Thanks to natural cooling from rock and fjord water, the centre achieves a PUE of 1.2, which is an excellent result.

In the United States, the Iron Mountain data centre, located 67 metres underground in a former limestone mine in Pennsylvania, uses an even more intelligent solution. The natural temperature there is maintained at 11°C, and an underground lake is used for additional cooling. Imagine: 167,000 square metres of servers are cooled with almost no air conditioning costs. If this were a conventional above-ground data centre, the electricity bills would be astronomical.

In Switzerland, the Swiss Fort Knox data centre in former military bunkers in the Alps achieves a PUE of around 1.15 — one of the best in the world. The secret is that the cold mountain air acts as a natural air conditioning system, saving megawatts of energy every day.

Why it matters: the economics of energy efficiency

Let's recall our example of a 1°C temperature increase saving $350,000 per year. Now imagine eliminating 70-80% of your cooling costs altogether thanks to natural conditions. For a large data centre, using environmentally friendly energy-saving methods can mean savings of £20-30 million per year.

That is why unusual locations are not a fad, but a practical solution to the industry's energy problem. When data centres consume as much electricity as entire countries, every percentage point of savings translates into millions of dollars and gigawatt-hours of energy saved.

The green future of data centres

Due to increasing energy consumption, data centres are actively switching to renewable energy sources. Companies are investing in solar and wind power plants, and some data centres even reuse heat from servers to heat homes in surrounding areas.

For example, in Sweden, DigiPlex uses excess heat from servers to provide central heating for Stockholm residents. In Denmark, Facebook's data centre is powered entirely by wind energy. This is not only environmentally friendly, but also economically advantageous, as renewable sources have already become the cheapest in the world.

In the era of digitalisation, the demand for data centres is growing exponentially. Ukraine is also moving in this direction, and the need for reliable data storage and processing infrastructure is becoming critical for business.

If you are developing your business and need a reliable place to host your IT equipment or hosting, Maxnet offers modern data centre solutions: from colocation and virtual servers to SSD hosting. Our data centre provides reliability, security and professional support for your digital infrastructure.

You can find out more about Maxnet's data centre services on our website or by calling 0800-31-0800.