U.S. data center electricity use rises toward at least 325 TWh by 2028
The floor of the forecast is nearly double 2023 use, and the high end is more than 3 times higher.
You ask for one answer. The country has to prepare for millions of those answers, every hour, inside buildings that need power before they can think.
The low end of the 2028 forecast is 325 TWh, almost double the 2023 level. The high end is 580 TWh.
- more AI servers
- more cloud use
- larger grid connections
- higher chip shipments
Sources · check usOpen
Your AI habit feels like a few taps. At grid scale, it becomes the kind of demand that can shape local power bills, land fights, and energy plans.
Behind the numbersOpen
Source: U.S. Department of Energy summary of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. Observed figures: 58 TWh in 2014, about 76 TWh in 2018, and 176 TWh in 2023. Forecast range: 325 to 580 TWh in 2028. The 2028 point uses the published lower end as the conservative forecast value because the source reports a range, not a single central estimate. TWh means terawatt-hours, a measure of electricity used over a year.