The huge power consumption burden from AI

Artificial intelligence evolved from a special computer science into the economic, defense and daily life of globally. However, behind each achievement, everyone has a silent basis with an endless thirst, which is the data centers. Data centers contain countless server prices used to store and process massive data files, unprecedented energy consumption. As Ai is growing, the question is whether people need to sacrifice the daily electricity needs so that who can continue operating?

AI data center and electricity demand soared

The data center always consumes large amounts of electricity, but AI makes consumption significantly increased. Economic training for major language models such as chatgting or image creation such as Midjourney requires GPU processing and hardware. These jobs must be transferred to cloud data centers. Laptops or phones cannot be processed on such a scale. James Walker, CEO of Nano Nuclear Energy Inc., emphasized the increasing electricity demand in AI projects. “We have talked to some people who are building a data center, some are expected to need 2 GW of electricity,” Walker said.

Even medium -scale data center can consume a lot of electricity across a small city. Technology analyst Jack Gold shared the facility like Elon Musk in Tennessee may need the equivalent of tens of thousands of houses. Electrical pressure can be huge if tens or hundreds of such centers operate.

Alex De Vries, founder of Digieconomist, has monitored the digital industry for many years, from digging virtual money to cloud computing. “The data center can account for at least 1% of the global electricity consumption in the past decade. Due to the trends that need a lot of energy like AI, the rate will increase to 3-4% in the world. They have used more electricity than the entire France,” De Vries said.

Pressure for the grid

Modern grid is a complex system including power plants, transformer stations and electricity distribution transmission lines on large areas. Each factory has maximum power supply capacity. The increase in giant AI data centers can overload local grids, especially in the area struggling with electricity shortage.

Many places in the United States such as California and Arizona struggled to cut off electricity when the peak demand. Bringing new data centers in Gigawatt into these areas can make the challenge worse. Even in the state with surplus capacity such as Texas, North Dakota, and Wyoming, authorities must consider building or upgrading lines, building power plants and managing potential impact on civil electricity.

According to De Vries, a sudden increase in demand can push electricity prices higher. “If the supply cannot meet anyone’s needs, the only result may be higher electricity.

Renewable power sources such as wind and solar power are growing strongly. However, their interruption nature is a problem for data centers that require continuous and stable supply. Large battery farms or other energy storage solutions may reduce fluctuations but will increase costs and need significant land area.

Nuclear energy

A potential solution is nuclear energy. Nuclear electricity does not release carbon gas at the time of production, providing basic load to meet the needs of the data center. However, large -scale nuclear power plants come with high costs, long construction time and obstacles from the prescribed. For example, the Hinkley Point C factory in the UK faces delayed for many years and the team’s budget to billions of dollars.

Gold found the potential in small module nuclear reactors (SMR). Many SMR startups such as Last Energy and Rolls-Royce propose convenient solutions such as the nuclear reactor installed on the spot to supply electricity to the data center. This small reactor can also be placed on a cargo ship or a distant location, providing electricity for the industrial system for decades without refueling. Some developers think that nuclear power is the only reliable solution to meet energy goals in the next 20 years.

However, most SMR projects are still in the development stage. The issuance of safety licenses for nuclear electricity is very strict and the community must feel comfortable when placing the reactor behind their home, even in the form of the module.

Water consumption

In addition to electricity, everyone needs a huge amount of water to cool the server. An average facility can consume more than 1.2 million liters of water per day, equivalent to 100,000 households. Alternative cooling solutions such as placing underwater data centers or complex volatile systems, accompanied by many challenges of shipping and the environment.

Who is an extremely powerful tool that promotes achievements in health care, finance, automatic means, … its benefits may be revolutionary but with continuous electricity consumption costs. In a short time, experts predict that electricity prices may increase, the grid will be under pressure when having to meet whose needs. For longer time, advanced solutions like SMR, large -scale battery storage, even editing grids can bring balance.

The fact is certainly the development of AI will not stop. With more advanced models, real -time robots and new data services, electricity demand will increase sharply. People do not need to sacrifice daily electricity needs for anyone. However, we can see higher electricity bill, interrupting service and environmental impact if the grid does not change to keep up with the development of whose development.