Data centers are the backbone of the digital economy, supporting everything from cloud services and e-commerce to healthcare and banking. However, their growth has come at a significant environmental and energy cost. Data centers globally consume vast amounts of electricity, much of which is still sourced from fossil fuels, making them a major contributor to emissions. According to McKinsey & Company, a recent analysis of current trends suggests that global demand for data center capacity could rise at an annual rate of between 19% and 22% from 2023 to 2030 to reach an annual energy demand of 171 to 219 gigawatts. Recent headlines have shown major investments planned for data center build outs. For example:
- Microsoft announces it plans to spend $80 billion on building AI data centers in 2025.
- UAE Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani recently announced $20 billion investment in the booming U.S. data center industry.
- SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son recently proclaimed a $100 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years. The billionaire investor has a goal to create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure including data centers.
- Rumble said recently that it has entered a cloud services agreement with the Government of El Salvador. Rumble’s services to El Salvador will include cloud storage (data centers), cloud
- Per the Wall Street Journal breaking news section - “Investment bank Macquarie will invest up to $5 billion in Applied Digital's AI data centers. Macquarie’s asset-management arm agreed to invest up to $900 million in a data-center campus that Applied Digital is developing in North Dakota. Macquarie also has a right of first refusal to invest an additional $4.1 billion in future Applied Digital data centers.
Opportunity for Energy & Sustainable Innovation:
Recently, Fortune 1000 top tier tech firms have announced their gameplans to meet their growing energy needs from data centers.
- Amazon signs agreements with Energy Northwest for innovative nuclear energy projects to address growing energy demands utilizing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will construct, own and operated the SMRs, and are expected to generate roughly 320 megawatts of power in the first phase of the project, with an option to increase to 960 megawatts. According to Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), “Nuclear is a safe source of carbon free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040”.
- Google announced it has signed a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to purchase renewable energy from a 435-megawatt solar project to be developed, owned, and operated by energyRe, energyRe, an independent power producer (IPP) will supply electricity and renewable energy credits generated from the solar project.
- Apple has announced on its website an update to expand clean energy around the globe. Apple 2030, is the company’s goal to be carbon neutral across its entire value chain. More than 18 gigawatts of clean electricity now power Apple’s global operations and manufacturing supply chain. Apple is also making new investments in solar power in the U.S. and Europe to help address the electricity customers use to charge and power their Apple devices. What about water utilized in the cooling process for data centers? According to Apple, it is advancing toward another 2030 goal: to replenish 100 percent of the fresh water used in corporate operations in high-stress locations.
- U.S Department of Energy, FEMP has published an industry guide for Best Practices for Energy-Efficient Data Center Design. According to the Data Center energy efficiency guide “Data center spaces can consume many times as much electricity as standard office spaces”. With such large power consumption, they are prime targets for energy-efficient design measures that can save money and reduce electricity use.
The energy consumption of data centers is expected to continue growing, driven by the increasing demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence (Ai), the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, robotics, gaming, virtual reality, governmental and defense needs, as well as the proliferation of building simulation and manufacturing process design utilizing modeling and Ai. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s at the 2025 Consumers Electronics show during his keynote address stated "We've been working on self-driving cars now for some time. If it's already a $5 billion business for us, imagine how big it's going to be when we have 100 million new self-driving cars per year. This is likely going to be one of the largest robotics industries in the world and one of the largest computing industries in the world."
Data, Data, and Even More Data:
If you think about it, anything and everything that is a “connected device” generates data. When it’s stored in the “cloud” it is actually in a data center or centers, for redundancy, around the world. When ChatGPT or similar applications are used they can create simple prompts such as rewriting a letter to some of the most complex tasks. The common denominator is that new data is created. Vehicles today have any array of sensors that collect and transmit data. Robotics and Ai create data. According to many industry leaders, the world is entering a transformational technological revolution the like of which will change the way people live their lives, communicate, and create. For businesses, many industries are in the midst of reinventing themselves to stay relevant or simply disappear. States, Cities, Countries are implementing strategies to be “connected” and enhance operations via real time data and information.
This growth is creating both challenges and opportunities for companies looking to reduce their environmental impact (such as water use), energy use and the resulting costs. With energy prices rising and pressure mounting from governments, investors, and customers for more sustainable operations, now is the time to prioritize energy efficiency in data center operations. Improving energy efficiency in data centers offers a dual benefit: not only can it lower operational costs, but it also positions organizations as a leader in corporate responsibility and sustainability, which is becoming an increasingly important factor in today’s competitive business environment.
PBJ Tech Hub is sponsoring a one-day Energy Efficient Data Center Forum on March 12, 2025, in Columbia, Maryland. There will be an industry leader line-up of workshop speakers, table-top vendor displays, and various networking opportunities. There are opportunities to attend and engage, have a table-top display, and sponsor to bolster your organization’s data center energy & sustainability solutions.