Datacentres are consuming 6% of electricity in the UK and US, with the growing strain of AI on energy supplies prompting community resistance, according to research. The proportion of electricity used by vast warehouses stacked with microchips to power AI and the internet has risen 15% worldwide in the past two years as annual global investment in datacentres approaches $1tn (740bn) nearly 1% of the global economy, according to the International Data Center Association (IDCA).
Data center electricity consumption is on pace to exceed 1,000 terawatt-hours by 2030, up from just 460 TWh in 2024, and it will comprise 10% of the U.S.' power consumption. Utilities ETFs like Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF (NYSEARCA:UTES), First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund (NASDAQ:GRID), and First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEARCA:FXU) are well positioned to benefit, not just from electricity demand, but all the downstream effects from an ongoing rapid buildout of infrastructure to support them.
When Specian dug into the data, he discovered that implementing energy-efficiency measures and shifting electricity usage to lower-demand times are two of the fastest and cheapest ways of meeting growing thirst for electricity. These moves could help meet much, if not all, of the nation's projected load growth. Moreover, they would cost only half-or less-what building out new infrastructure would, while avoiding the emissions those operations would bring.
After two years of declines, United States greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2025-a change driven by increased electricity use, due in part to data centers and cryptocurrency mining, as well as cold winter temperatures that meant homes required more heating. Emissions increased 2.4% in 2025, according to preliminary data from the research firm Rhodium Group. That's higher than the country's GDP growth, which increased by a projected 1.9%.
Artificial intelligence data centres are set to devour a massive share of the world's electricity growth over the next decade, according to BP's latest World Energy Outlook. The oil giant estimates that data facilities powering AI applications will account for 10% of global electricity demand growth by 2035. In the United States, the world's most advanced AI hub, that figure could skyrocket to 40%, raising urgent questions about the strain on energy systems.
"We can scale this technology to very large scale," Yuval Bachar, ECL founder and CEO, said. "We do multiple gigawatts of this technology based on hydrogen with zero emission."
