Can the expansion of renewable energy keep up with the exponentially increasing power demands of AI? ITV News’ Science Correspondent Martin Stew explains Words by ITV News Health and Science Producer Rhiannon Hopley It is one of the biggest changes to society since the industrial revolution: around the world, across businesses and governments, the race to develop and benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) is on.But countries are simultaneously trying to clean up their green credentials.Almost everything we do on our phones, the internet or with AI is linked back to data centres.They are huge buildings filled with rows and rows of super computers.Some of them are so big they use the same amount of power in a year as a city the size of Cambridge – and demand is growing.So can the expansion of renewable energy keep up with the exponentially increasing power demands of AI?Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News.Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.In 2020 data centres used a little over 1% of the UK’s overall electricity.By 2030, forecasts suggest that could rise up to nearly 7% – the same amount of electrical power used by eight million homes.
The biggest driver of that increase is AI.And it is not just energy that is under pressure.Data centres also get really hot – all those super computers kick out a lot of hot air and they need to be kept constantly cool, which requires a lot of water.In fact, it is estimated that asking ChatGPT to write you a 100 word email uses half a litre of water.
If you are sending multiple emails a day, that can stack up very quickly.However, the power and water usage of expanding data centres is currently hard to quantify.A report by the Royal Academy of Engineering calls for the government to require mandatory reporting from tech companies on their power and water usage.They say the expansion of resource-hungry AI is creating a higher environmental risk that could lead to competition for water and energy in the future.Detailed monitoring is therefore necessary to manage these risks, says Gopal Ramchurn, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Southampton and the chief executive of Responsible AI UK.”The worst case scenario if we don’t get this right, if we don’t get this data and don’t manage the use of natural resources by data centres, is that we will find ourselves making difficult choices when it comes to who has access to power in the UK – data centres of normal people,” he says.The recent release of DeepSeek , an AI system developed in China which claims to use less energy than traditional models, has raised hopes that AI could become more energy efficient.
There are also developments in technology such as Small Modular Reactors – nuclear reactors a tenth of the size of the current power plants – that could provide green energy for data centres.This week world leaders and tech entrepreneurs are meeting in Paris at the AI Summit.There are several high-ranking politicians including US Vice President JD Vance and the Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing in attendance.
They will discuss the use of the technology and how it will be regulated but ultimately everyone wants to be the frontrunner in this global AI race.In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already announced his AI action plan – a collection of 50 recommendations he believes will make the UK a superpower in the field.A spokesperson from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the government recognises that data centres “face sustainability changes such as energy demands and water use” and added that many newer data centres are “already addressing these issues”.“UK data centre operators have also committed to implementing energy efficient measures under a Climate Change Agreement, and through the AI Energy Council, we’ll also build on this by exploring bold, clean energy solutions — from next-generation renewables to small modular reactors — to ensure our AI ambitions align with the UK’s net zero goals.” The UK is uniquely well placed in the AI race, with the highest per capita concentration of experts in the world – but the question is how to make it work for everyone.Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know….
