This page shows two different views of data-center energy use: the scale of global electricity demand and how electricity is split inside a data center. The chart values are taken from the report and rounded where the source gives a rounded estimate.
All figures come from the International Energy Agency's Electricity 2024 - Analysis and forecast to 2026 report and its data-centre chapter.
| Dataset | Measure | 2022 | 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global electricity demand | 460 TWh | 620 to 1,050 TWh | ||
| Data-center internal energy split | 40% / 40% / 20% | N/A | The report describes the internal energy split for a typical data center. | |
| United States | Data-center electricity use | ~200 TWh | ~260 TWh | About 4% of US electricity demand in 2022 and 6% in 2026. |
| European Union | Data-center electricity use | slightly below 100 TWh | almost 150 TWh | IEA estimate for the EU region. |
| China | Data-center electricity use | N/A | around 300 TWh | Forecast for 2026 in the IEA report. |
| Ireland | Data-center electricity use | 5.3 TWh | up to 32% of national demand | The report provides a 2022 value and a 2026 share scenario. |
| Denmark | Data-center electricity use | N/A | 6 TWh | Forecast by 2026, with just under 20% of national demand. |
The chart highlights that the biggest electricity loads are not just the servers themselves. Cooling is just as large as computing in the IEA breakdown.
| Component | Share |
|---|---|
| Computing | 40% |
| Cooling | 40% |
| Other IT equipment | 20% |
This is a clean way to show one of the core conclusions from the source: energy demand is split almost evenly between compute and cooling.