ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF DATA CENTERS AND THE PRIMARY ENERGY METRIC: GLOBAL ANALYSIS 2000–2024 AND PROJECTIONS UNTIL 2030
Keywords:
Digitalization, Data Centers, Primary Energy, Energy SustainabilityAbstract
The digitalization of the 21st century, driven by cloud computing, big data, and generative artificial intelligence, has transformed economic, scientific, and social systems. Data centers have become critical infrastructure for information processing and storage, yet their energy impact is often underestimated, as traditional studies focus only on electricity consumption, ignoring the primary energy required from extraction to distribution. This study analyzes the global energy consumption of data centers between 2000 and 2024, using primary energy as the metric, and focuses on ten strategic countries responsible for over 70% of global consumption. It calculates the percentage share of data centers, identifies critical growth milestones, compares their consumption with the global energy surplus, analyzes regional disparities, and projects scenarios until 2030. Although accounting for only about 0.4% of global primary energy, data centers are growing rapidly and are geoFigureically concentrated in the United States, China, and the United Kingdom, generating energy inequalities and geopolitical pressures. The systemic approach allows evaluating the structural effects of digitalization on the energy matrix and provides insights for public policy and sustainability strategies.
