Data centers use no more than 1.5% of energy globally[1], and a long LLM query uses only a little more than 5 minutes of general laptop use ~3x the energy of running an LED light for 5 minutes.

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/how-much-energy-do-data-centers-a...

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legitster a minute ago | parent | next [-]

When all is said and done, data centers are complimentary to green energy. They can spin up and down to buffer non-linear power nodes.

They also represent investment in economic growth that doesn't come from resource extraction or travel or manufacturing.

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conception an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So you’re saying we could significantly cut energy use globally by limiting data center build outs?

1.5% is a //huge// amount. If it was a “drop” in your bucket, it would only hold 67 more of those drops.

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ch4s3 an hour ago | parent [-]

No, I'm not saying that and I don't think 1.5% is particularly large. Moreover many of these projects are built out with on site 0 carbon generation so they're in some ways a net benefit.

	▲	cogman10 an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The largest projects, like Box Elder County Utah and Pecos County Texas, are using fossil fuels. In fact, I'm unaware of any new AI data center also being built with 0 carbon generation. Do you have a source?
	▲	hunter-gatherer 21 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		This is wildly out of touch with reality. Have you never seen a construction site? A 0 carbon generation site doesn't exist.

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wongarsu 44 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

1.5% of electricity. That's a significant difference. Only about 1/7th of all our energy usage is electricity

1.5% of global energy use would be a shocking amount. Aviation is at about 3%. 1.5% of global electricity is about 0.2% of global energy use, a much more manageable figure

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mitthrowaway2 37 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wow, even with that being electricity rather than energy, that's orders of magnitude more than I would have guessed. That's a tremendous amount of electricity.

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drdrey an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

1.5% of electricity, not energy

that would be 0.3% of global energy use

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jdiff 33 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> ~3x the energy of running an LED light for 5 minutes.

Why would this not be the energy of running an LED light for 15 minutes?

	▲	rcpt 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It's an unspoken rule in the data center debate that every metric is completely batshit. Doesn't matter what side you're on, it's always "enough water to irrigate 27 soccer fields" or "as much energy as 1/5th of the average hamburger"

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yread 42 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Ah yes, "just" 485 TWh, equal to all electricity consumption of Germany. Drop in the bucket