Electricitypublished as isOutside the levels infrastructureInfrastructure, outside the levelsInfrastructure18 entriesFigures published by others, reproduced as they are; they cut across the territories without adding to them.Database structure 
6Territories
5Organisations
4Occupations and activities
3Uses
2Machine operations
1Calculation factorsData centres, world
The electricity of all the world's data centres, all uses combined.
- Selected reference: In 2024, source IEA.
- This total covers all uses of data centres; it does not measure AI's share alone.
- Out of scope: cryptocurrencies, users' devices, telecommunication networks and hardware manufacturing.
Sentence to citeData centres, world: 415 TWh of electricity, figure published by the IEA.
Origin of the value
Websites, storage, online services and AI, which is one part of them. About 1.5% of the world's electricity; cryptocurrencies are counted separately; published by the IEA.
Comparison with other infrastructure entries
Characteristics
| Unit | 1 year : in 2024 |
|---|---|
| Location | not applicable: a published total does not depend on the location of the servers |
| Counted | servers, storage, internal network and cooling of data centres |
| Not counted | cryptocurrencies, users' devices, telecommunication networks and hardware manufacturing |
| Status | published, 1 reading of the same scope, 3 other published values |
All the characteristics
| Identifier | IA-0100, projetcelsius.com/en/ai/database/IA-0100/ |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.3 of 2 November 2026 |
| Category | Infrastructure, published as is |
| Year | 2024 (415 TWh), 2025 (485 TWh), 2030, IEA projection (945 TWh) |
| Choice of the selected value | value taken as it stands from its source, without calculation |
| Sources | IEA, 2025 |
| Compared with | Chip manufacturing (984 GWh), Data centres, Ireland (7.66 TWh), Meta (18.4 TWh), Microsoft (37 TWh), Google (43.6 TWh) |
| Licence | CC BY 4.0 |
Result for the chosen case
Sources of the calculation
1 publication, for this entry and those used to calculate it, with the chosen parameters.
Energy and factors
The references of the selected values and of the entries used in this calculation.
IEA · April 2025
Role and limits : IEA
Author. International Energy Agency
What the publication covers. the world's data centres
Reading by the database. The reference for the big picture
Reference of the variant "In 2024"
Scope of the figure used. World, 2024, all uses of data centres
Limit. The agency's estimate based on server stock
Published values
6 figures for the same quantity, each in its own scope.
Electricity
415 TWh selected, between 415 TWh and 945 TWh for published values of the same scope
| Source | Date | Electricity | What the figure measures | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data centres, worldselected by the database, v0.3 | 2026 | 415 TWh | the value selected by the database | same scope | published |
| IEA, Energy and AI ↗Energy and AI | Apr. 2025 | 415 TWh | World, 2024, all uses of data centres | same scope | estimated |
| IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI ↗Key Questions on Energy and AI | Apr. 2026 | 945 TWh | World, projection for 2030, base scenario, between the agency's low and high scenarios | same scope | estimated |
| IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI ↗Key Questions on Energy and AI | Apr. 2026 | 485 TWh | World, 2025, all data centres, excluding cryptocurrencies, the agency's 2020-2025 historical series | other scope | estimated |
| The Shift Project ↗Intelligence artificielle, données, calculs : quelles infrastructures dans un monde décarboné ? | Oct. 2025 | 1,250 TWh to 1,500 TWh | World, trajectory for 2030, cryptocurrencies included | other scope | estimated |
Water
| Source | Date | Water | What the figure measures | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IEA, Energy and AI ↗Energy and AI | Apr. 2025 | 560,000 Mm³ | World, 2023, water consumption: about two thirds to produce the electricity, a quarter to cool servers on site, the rest to manufacture chips | other scope | estimated |
| IEA, Energy and AI ↗Energy and AI | Apr. 2025 | 1,200,000 Mm³ | World, projection for 2030, base scenario, water consumption, same three kinds of water | other scope | estimated |
The published figures do not all count the same scope; the scope of each figure is written next to it. Why do the estimates diverge?
Methodology conventions
With their alternatives
| The rule | a published total is reproduced as is, with its year and scope; it is not converted with an average factor and does not add to the database's calculations |
|---|---|
| Calculate a case without an entry | The formula, the default values and a step-by-step example |
Uses in the hub
Charts, figures, analyses and articles that cite this entry
History
Entry in version 0.3 of 2 November 2026, in the database in version 0.4
- 2 November 2026Row 2023 (360 TWh) removed.The row pointed to the 2024 record, which does not cover this year. It will return with a record from the IEA's 2020-2025 series.
- 2 November 2026Row 2025 : 485 TWh, with no record of its own becomes 485.1 TWh.The 2025 value now has its record: the IEA's historical series published in April 2026.
- 2 November 2026Designation : The world's data centres becomes Data centres, world, 2024.More precise designation: the object first, the specification after the comma, the quantity or period at the end; the former title remains searchable.
- 2 November 2026Designation : Data centres, world, 2024 becomes Data centres, world.The year becomes a variant, and leaves the name.
- 2 November 2026Address : centres-de-donnees-monde-2024 becomes centres-de-donnees-monde.The year leaves the address; keep the old one in the redirects.
- 1st November 2026Row : 2030.The IEA projection for 2030 added as a row, with the range of its scenarios.
- 31 October 2026Creation of the database, in its first version (0.1).
