US power demand to reach record highs in 2026–2027 driven by AI and data centers

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-power-use-beat-record-highs-2026-2027-ai-use-surges-eia-says-2026-04-07/

by latentframe • 3 months ago

19 10 3 months ago

It seems that AI is stopping being just a compute problem and becomes now an energy problem Power infrastructure scales really slower than chips so this could become a real important constraint.

aurareturn2• 3 months ago

This has been true for a few years now. US is gated by power. China is gated by advanced chips.

BLKNSLVR2• 3 months ago

The US needs solar and wind hardware manufactured by China.

China needs advanced chips manufactured by ... Taiwan.

gregman1• 3 months ago

But where are these data centers? Iirc majority of these new builds are on hold.

Sol-• 3 months ago

Civilization needs energy, not a problem per se. Just generate more, preferably from sustainable sources.

bigbadfeline2• 3 months ago

Civilization needs energy,

Civilization needs any new consumers of energy to pay for the new capacity they require, that's not the case here so let's forget about civilization and its requirements.

energy, not a problem per se. Just generate more, preferably from sustainable sources.

Finally someone with unlimited energy supply, how much of that "no problem" can you provide? Use you preferred sources or others, I'll make no fuss about it, in continuous Gigawatts, please.

dinfinity• 3 months ago

"Demand is surging due in large part to data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, and as homes and businesses use more electricity and less fossil fuels for heat and transportation."

It would be informative to know what the 'AI' part of it is, because now it just seems like engagement bait.

bigbadfeline2• 3 months ago

It would be informative to know what the 'AI' part of it is

AI is > 90% of new capacity requirements. Crypto energy use is actually falling after some coins moved away from proof of work, especially after ethereum did.

because now it just seems like engagement bait.

Well, you're shooting at the messenger here, why don't you find that information yourself and let us know? I tried and it's very hard - the various state governments talk about new electric capacity, data centers, and "jobs, jobs, jobs" without revealing what part of the new capacity would go to what consumers, or how many millions of investment will be needed per single job.

The info for Utah - projected increase of households electric bills to cover the capex for new power plants - greater than $500/year in the next several years - all of it to power humongous new AI data centers.

US power demand to reach record highs in 2026–2027 driven by AI and data centers

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