Australia’s Data Centres Could Draw 15 Percent of National Energy by 2030: Scientist

Energy consumption from data centres in Australia could eclipse the transport sector within a decade, says one RMIT scientist. Speaking to the Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) on July 17, Ascelin Gordon, a senior lecturer at RMIT University and a research fellow at the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group, presented his findings on the environmental impact of data centres and AI. According to Mr. Gordon, data centres currently consume 1 to 3 percent of electricity globally, and consumption in Australia is about 5 percent of the country’s energy usage. The lecturer said that the figure could reach 8-15 percent by 2030. “There’s a lot of uncertainties in these projections, but it’s certainly going to be significant,” he said. “Within a decade or so, it could be the equivalent of the transport sector in energy use.”...