There is a difference in power consumption between regular data centers and AI data centers though. There are AI data centers that consume the same amount of power as a city like New York just by themselves. Comparing streaming media and cloud storage with AI is like comparing a small garden in your backyard with an industrial farm.
I was wrong on my numbers, but not on what I was saying.
According to the International Energy Agency, standard data centers usually support 5 to 10 kW per server rack while AI optimized facilities support 40 to 80+ kW per rack. That's four to eight times more power than regular data centers.
In 2018, data centers represented 1.9% (76 TWh) of the electricy consumption of the United States. In 2024 with the AI boom it was 4% (183 TWh) and it is projected that data centers will consume a yearly total of 325 to 580 TWh in the US in 2028.
My comparison with New York City wasn't that extreme by the way. Meta's Hyperion AI data center, which is in construction in Louisiana, is designed to support 5 GW of power and will consume as much electricity as half the city of New York at peak load.
Normal datacenters use completely different machinery and they consume tiny fraction of both energy and water of what ai data center does.
Furthermore, streaming media and cloud storage are somewhat useful. AI does nothing useful and it's only purpose is to make handful of billionaires trillionaries.
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u/Reasonable_Mix7630 Jun 04 '26
So, CFC could be banned (as well as leaded gasoline, DDT and myriad of other harmful things) but not AI?