The Air Conditioning War With Data Centers

Who gets the electricity? Data centers, home owners, renters, or legacy businesses. The question and answer become more important as global warming raises temperatures and sometimes causes spikes in air conditioning use, as the East Coast is experiencing.

Temperatures are not just rising around the world. Specifically, they have risen quickly in parts of the US. In March, when many cities across the West posted record-high temperatures. The East Coast is currently experiencing the same problem. Air conditioning use is so high that cities like New York are warning of blackouts and asking people to throttle back cooling during the hottest part of the day, usually between 11 AM and 4 PM. 

The US leads the world in the number of data centers currently in use. The future is just shy of 4,000, with the current figure at 3,960 according to Semafor.. The UK is a distant second at 498. The China figure is 365, but it’s suspiciously low given the explosion in their AI footprint and the government’s ability to co-opt land. 

The US ranks second in air-conditioning units, with 374,000. China is first at 569,000. However, China has a population of 1.3 billion. The US population is 349 million. 

The challenge, which may be impossible to fix in the near term or even the foreseeable future, is that the US grid is weak and some parts of it are decades old. Electricity generation also faces challenges. Among them is the carbon footprint. The U.S. The Energy Information Administration recently released “What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?” Natural gas was 43%. Coal was at 16%. Wind topped renewables at 10%.

It is inevitable that the AI data center footprint will grow. Among them, the largest AI companies led by OpenAI, Amazon, and Alphabet are expected to invest $1 trillion in these data centers next year. Without their constitution, the most important scientific advance, perhaps in history, will find its growth constrained. On the other hand, in the hottest periods, heat can sicken or even kill people 

Energy generation in the US will not keep up with the overall demand anytime soon. Goldman Sachs writes data center power demand will double by next year. The analysis shows, “Data centers’ share of total US peak summer power demand is projected to jump to 8.5% in 2027 from 4.1% in 2025, creating significant tightening across the national power market.’

The fight over energy has already entered politics and reached a high level. The dispute over energy use is part of the Congressional elections, and the campaigns for Governors.

It is hard to handicap the outcome of the battle. It will be different from city to city and state to state. And, it will become more aggressive on both sides.

More from ClimateCrisis 247

• 10 Countries Where Green Energy Production Is Outpacing Electricity Demand
• The Nations Driving The Most Pollution In This Century
• U.S. Leads The World in Data Center Electricity Use By Far
• The world is about to have too much oil