Restrictions on AI Data Centers’ Energy Consumption

MetaversePlanet February 20, 2024Last Updated: February 20, 2024

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The high level of computational power required by artificial intelligence leads to significant energy consumption, prompting restrictive measures to be taken globally.

Artificial intelligence has gained considerable popularity recently. With the integration of productive models into our daily lives, the usage of these technologies has significantly increased. While it may seem that entering a site and typing a command of three to five sentences suffices to utilize artificial intelligence, substantial processing power is needed in the background.

Consequently, governments are now implementing restrictions on the data centers that supply this processing power.

New regulations for data centers

Restrictions on AI Data Centers' Energy Consumption

According to The Financial Times, countries such as China, Singapore, and Ireland have recently introduced environmental regulations that restrict the establishment of new data centers. Ireland, in particular, which is favored by companies due to its low tax rates and access to a high-capacity underwater cable network, faces stricter regulations that may impact future projects.

Recent projects in Dublin by data center firms such as Vantage, EdgeConneX, and Equinix have been denied by the country’s energy and water regulators, preventing these new data centers from connecting to the electrical infrastructure.

Similar measures have been adopted in Germany and Loudoun in the US state of Virginia, which require facilities in residential areas to utilize renewable energies and convert generated heat into energy.

The International Energy Agency has reported that cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence are significant energy consumers, predicting that their energy consumption will double by 2026.

According to the agency, data centers, cryptocurrencies, and artificial intelligence contribute to 2 percent of global electricity consumption. In response, technology companies are exploring alternative solutions. For instance, Microsoft is considering the use of nuclear energy for its data centers.