The tricky task of calculating AI’s energy use

A fifth of all electricity used in Ireland is spent powering the country’s data centres, more than is used by its urban homes. With one data centre for every 42,000-odd people, Ireland has one of the highest per-person concentrations of computing power in the world. Loudoun County, just outside Washington, DC, beats it: its 443,000 residents rub shoulders with scores of data centres—more than the next six biggest clusters in America combined. In 2022 their peak energy usage was almost 3 gigawatts (GW), a power draw that, if maintained year round, would approach Ireland’s total annual consumption.