sean_foster99•1mo ago

I finally looked up how much energy those big AI data centers actually use (found a stat that blew my mind)

3 comments

3 Comments

masonm851mo ago

So what's the number? I bet it's enough to power a small country.

paige_ellis591mo ago

@masonm85 I think the number is somewhere around 100 megawatts for a big facility, which yeah, that's like powering a small town or a decent chunk of a city. @lee_gibson is spot on about the cooling - I read once that some data centers use as much water as a small city just to keep those servers from melting down. So I guess we're all just a bunch of pixels burning through the grid, huh? Take that with a grain of salt though, I'm no electrician.

lee_gibson1mo ago

Man, I used to think the same way. Then I saw the actual numbers for how much power a single data center uses. It's insane, like a small city's worth just for the cooling systems alone. That changed my whole view on the tech boom. We're talking about building the equivalent of dozens of new power plants just to keep up.