AI Chatbots Unplugged: The Energy Crunch Behind Giants Like ChatGPT and DeepSeek
Every query posed to ChatGPT consumes approximately tenfold the amount of electricity compared to a standard Google search.
As reported by the nonprofit research organization Electric Power Research Institute, a single request to ChatGPT consumes approximately 2.9 watt-hours, whereas conventional Google searches utilize around 0.3 watt-hour per query.
Given approximately 9 billion daily searches, this could result in an extra demand for roughly 10 terawatt-hours of electricity annually.
The artificial intelligence sector depends on data centers for training and running its models, which escalates energy consumption and adds to worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
Microsoft disclosed that its carbon dioxide emissions have increased by approximately 30% since 2020 as a result of expanding their data centers.
In 2023, Google experienced an increase of nearly 50% in worldwide greenhouse gas emissions compared to those recorded in 2019, primarily because of the substantial energy requirements associated with their data centers.
Currently, energy usage by artificial intelligence constitutes just a small portion of the tech industry's overall electricity consumption and is believed to account for approximately 2 to 3% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
This figure is expected to increase as additional businesses, governmental entities, and institutions adopt AI technologies to boost efficiency and productivity.
In which locations within the European Union are the data centers situated?
Currently, there are over 8,000 data centers worldwide, and approximately 16% of them are situated in Europe.
Most of these centers are located in the financial hubs of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that electricity usage within the data center industry across the European Union will likely hit approximately 150 terawatt-hours by 2026.
In 2022, the energy consumption by data centers in Ireland amounted to 5.3 terawatt-hours, which accounted for 17 percent of the nation's overall electricity usage.
This is equal to the energy used by all residential areas in cities.
Should the utilization of AI applications continue to grow rapidly, this sector might comprise 32% of the nation's overall power consumption by 2026.
Denmark is home to 34 data centers, with half situated in Copenhagen.
As in Ireland, Denmark’s total electricity demand is forecast to grow mainly due to the data centre sector’s expansion, which is expected to consume 6 TWh by 2026, reaching just under 20% of the country’s electricity demand.
In the meantime, data centers located in Nordic nations like Sweden, Norway, and Finland profit from reduced electricity expenses.
This can be attributed to reduced cooling requirements because of their cooler climate.
In terms of the number of data centers among Nordic nations, Sweden stands out as the leader with a total of 60 facilities, with approximately half located in Stockholm.
In light of decarbonization goals, both Sweden and Norway might expand their involvement in the data center sector as a significant portion of their electricity comes from low-emission sources.