The tricky task of calculating AI’s energy use
Apr 9th 2025|8 min read
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.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Unclean thoughts”
From the April 12th 2025 edition
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