Here’s a breakdown of the typical energy consumption:
1. Servers and IT Equipment (40-50%)
• The majority of a data center’s energy is consumed by the actual computing infrastructure—servers, storage, and networking devices.
• This demand is driven by continuous processing, high utilization, and increasing workloads from AI, cloud services, and large-scale data processing.
2. Cooling and HVAC (30-40%)
• Cooling is the second largest component. Data centers generate significant heat, and maintaining optimal operating temperatures is essential to prevent equipment failure.
• Advanced cooling techniques, such as liquid cooling or immersion cooling, are being adopted to reduce this expenditure.
3. Power Distribution and Losses (10-15%)
• Power is lost through conversion (AC to DC) and during distribution within the facility. This includes uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and power distribution units (PDU).
4. Lighting and Ancillary Systems (5-10%)
• Lighting and other facility-related operations make up a smaller portion of the overall energy consumption.
I’m curious is research thinking about disruption in energy reduction solutions?
I think modern hyper-scaler datacenters have PUE (total power / IT equipment) of around 1.1. Google has a great article here about their numbers. To your point about disruption there are solutions that would help go further - mainly different ways of cooling - but unclear that that's disruptive vs evolutionary. https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/efficiency/
I love that post! It's so ambitious. His point is basically that there is no way the utilities can grow fast enough to keep up, which is why big tech is scrambling to find independent/private ways to pull this off. Microsoft is investing $80B in datacenters this year, and for all extents and purposes they are going to have to become a power company to pull this off. It's like the sci-fi books where civilizations eventually build Dyson Spheres... we're basically in that timeline and it's wild. We never got flying cars but we're building planetary AI? What?!?!
Here’s a breakdown of the typical energy consumption:
1. Servers and IT Equipment (40-50%)
• The majority of a data center’s energy is consumed by the actual computing infrastructure—servers, storage, and networking devices.
• This demand is driven by continuous processing, high utilization, and increasing workloads from AI, cloud services, and large-scale data processing.
2. Cooling and HVAC (30-40%)
• Cooling is the second largest component. Data centers generate significant heat, and maintaining optimal operating temperatures is essential to prevent equipment failure.
• Advanced cooling techniques, such as liquid cooling or immersion cooling, are being adopted to reduce this expenditure.
3. Power Distribution and Losses (10-15%)
• Power is lost through conversion (AC to DC) and during distribution within the facility. This includes uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and power distribution units (PDU).
4. Lighting and Ancillary Systems (5-10%)
• Lighting and other facility-related operations make up a smaller portion of the overall energy consumption.
I’m curious is research thinking about disruption in energy reduction solutions?
I think modern hyper-scaler datacenters have PUE (total power / IT equipment) of around 1.1. Google has a great article here about their numbers. To your point about disruption there are solutions that would help go further - mainly different ways of cooling - but unclear that that's disruptive vs evolutionary. https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/efficiency/
Leopold Aschenbrenner extrapolates to 20% of US power grid by 2030, you can check his math here: https://situational-awareness.ai/racing-to-the-trillion-dollar-cluster/
I love that post! It's so ambitious. His point is basically that there is no way the utilities can grow fast enough to keep up, which is why big tech is scrambling to find independent/private ways to pull this off. Microsoft is investing $80B in datacenters this year, and for all extents and purposes they are going to have to become a power company to pull this off. It's like the sci-fi books where civilizations eventually build Dyson Spheres... we're basically in that timeline and it's wild. We never got flying cars but we're building planetary AI? What?!?!