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Artificial Intelligence Consumption of Global Electricity is Projected to Reach 0.5% by 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly adopting across global industries, raising questions regarding its significant electricity demand. According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), AI-focused data centers are estimated to consume approximately 0.5% of the world's electricity in 2025. While this represents a relatively small portion of total global energy, the demand is geographically concentrated in specific regional clusters. In the United States, data centers account for 5% of electricity use, with AI-focused facilities making up about 2% of that total. Research indicates that individual AI queries are relatively low-energy tasks. For example, a median text-based query on Google's Gemini model is estimated to consume 0.24 watt-hours, which is comparable to a television running for ten seconds. However, the primary challenge for the global grid remains the concentration of demand. As AI continues to expand, the ability of local grids to manage this surge while maintaining stable prices and low emissions will be a critical factor in determining the technology's growth bottleneck.

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