The Central Statistics Office (CSO) for Ireland has released metered electricity consumption statistics for 2023, revealing that electricity consumption by data centres increased by 20% in 2023.

The CSO statistics revealed that the percentage of metered electricity consumption used by data centres rose from 5% in 2015 to 18% in 2022 and to 21% in 2023.

This is more electricity than the total amount for urban dwellings (18%) and for rural dwellings (10%).

The percentage of metered electricity consumed by urban dwellings actually dropped 1% from 2022, while the metered electricity consumed by rural dwellings remained the same.

The reason why data centres consume so much electricity is not only due to their 24/7 computational-heavy operation, but also the air conditioning systems needed to cool down the signifiant heat generated during computation.

Additionally, the growth of AI technology means that data centres are set to consume even more electricity in the coming years. Indeed, earlier...