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Energy Consumption Trends
Comparison of estimated energy reliance on traditional vs. renewable sources in hyperscale centers.
Primary Sources
'Dirty Data Centre Edition': Big Tech Burning More Fossil Fuels Than ...
A new report says Big Tech companies including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are relying on gas and diesel generators to power their hyperscale artificial intelligence data centres while burying data on the facilities’ true emissions and energy use. Green Web Foundation, a non-profit campaigning for a fossil-free internet by 2030, drew on its own data and 140 other sources for its inaugural report, which it calls the “dirty data centre” edition. It finds that generative AI is jeopardizing the energy transition, demanding far more computing power than earlier AI models, and that the roughly 1,300 hyperscale data centres built to run it are increasingly turning to fossil fuels like gas and coal. For example, Meta’s planned Hyperion data centre in Louisiana recently added seven more gas power plants to the three in its original plan—set to use as much electricity as the entire state of South Dakota, reported Tech Crunch. Chris Adams, technology and policy director at the Green Web Foundation, told The Energy Mix that Google, Amazon, and Microsoft do not publicly disclose their energy use in a format that makes it possible to monitor or compare, but said “all three are burning more fossil fuels than ever.” The three companies are responsible for more than half of all hyperscale AI data centres. Adams said the Green Web Foundation has created a scorecard to start tracking the issue and updating it annually. Other major operators are Meta, Alibaba, Tencent, Oracle, Apple, and ByteDance. “We hope that when we publish the next State of the Fossil-Free Internet report, the data tells a different story,” he said. A Pause on Data Centre Expansions The groups behind the report are calling for “a pause on all data centre expansions until there is more accurate and granular data available locally and globally, and stronger measures in place to ensure that new data centres will not be powered by fossil fuels.” Green Web recommends that “all claims about energy generation and use should be publicly accessible and independently verifiable,” since “the actions of just a few companies could theoretically make a huge difference to reducing the global emissions of the internet.” Major tech companies are “driven by extractive capitalism,” Mike Gifford, open standards and practices lead for CivicActions, told The Mix. They are in “a race to get there first” and unwilling to wait until their business goals can be met sustainably. The big tech culture of ‘‘move fast and ...
Top 25 Energy-efficient data center startups 2026
These startups develop energy-efficient cooling systems, energy storage and energy-saving technologies for data-centers.1Country: USA | Funding: $26MCritical Loop utilizes modular systems and intelligent software to provide on-demand power solutions for AI data centers and other objects. Critical Loop’s system switches to on-site batteries and solar during the peak hours, then back to the grid when demand drops. The station controller predicts and manages on-site battery needs. The company deploys systems in days or weeks, far quicker than utilities’ years-long infrastructure upgrades, and is already serving L.A.’s ports, logistics and factories.2Country: USA | Funding: $39.7MClaros creates power management platform for data centers that utilizes cutting-edge hardware, software to enhance their energy efficiency and enable sustainable high-performance computing.3Country: USA | Funding: $140MPanthalassa creates wave energy power-plants for offshore AI data centers. Its solution is a standalone, fully integrated system, which combines AI infrastructure and power generation equipment into a single offshore unit. Each lollipop-shaped node consists of a floating spherical head connected to a long, submerged vertical pipe and supporting frame. As ocean waves pass, the node bobs up and down, but crucially, the surrounding water moves only in small orbital trajectories. This relative motion between the structure and the water column causes oscillations within the pipe, effectively moving seawater up and down the system. The water then passes through internal turbines, generating electricity, before being recirculated back into the pipe, repeating the cycle.4Country: USA | Funding: $4.8BBloom Energy creates fuel-cell systems for local power generation that can utilize a wide range of resources to generate electricity. Bloom Energy Server can use natural gas, biogas and hydrogen as fuel without combustion and is scalable to tens of megawatts. Installation and commissioning of the server can be completed in as little as three months. These servers are often used to power enterprise buildings and data centers. The company has developed proprietary solid oxide fuel cell technology that ensures low CO2 emissions. Bloom Energy also has its own hydrogen production facility at the world's largest solid oxide electrolyzer plant at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View. The company syas, that this high-temperature plant produces 20-25% more hydrogen per MW than commer...
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Beijing pushes AI data centres to adopt green energy under action plan
The document proposes a total of 29 measures to improve the integration of green power and AI.
