National Electricity Share Used by Data Centers (Documented Examples and Caveats)

ABR Topic 22 • Back to interactive ABR viewer

This page summarizes country-level figures (or credible, citable estimates) for the share of national electricity attributable to data centers. “Share” is not always defined the same way across sources. Some statistics use “total metered electricity consumption” (Ireland), some use “total electricity consumption” (United States, United Kingdom, Singapore), and some are projections for future years (United Arab Emirates, Australia, Malaysia). MezzoFluidics recommends citing the definition used by the underlying source.

United States (U.S.)
• About 4.4% of total U.S. electricity (2023), with projections of approximately 6.7% to 12% by 2028. Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) materials.
- https://www.energy.gov/policy/electricity-demand-growth-resource-hub
- https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-releases-new-report-evaluating-increase-electricity-demand-data-centers
- https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2025/01/15/berkeley-lab-report-evaluates-increase-in-electricity-demand-from-data-centers/

Canada
• About 1% of the total electricity used in Canada (general national context statement). Source: Natural Resources Canada.
- https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-efficiency/energy-star/products/list-certified-products/data-centres

United Kingdom (UK)
• Around 2.5% of the UK’s electricity (current share; House of Commons Library briefing). Source: UK Parliament House of Commons Library.
- https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10315/

Ireland (EU)
• 21% of total metered electricity consumption (2023). Source: Central Statistics Office (CSO) Ireland (official statistics).
- https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-dcmec/datacentresmeteredelectricityconsumption2023/keyfindings/
Note: Ireland’s CSO metric is “total metered electricity consumption,” which is explicitly defined in the release and should be used verbatim when citing the statistic.

Singapore (APAC)
• About 7% of Singapore’s total power consumption (statement in an IMDA blog article). Source: Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
- https://www.imda.gov.sg/resources/blog/blog-articles/2025/02/red-dot-analytics-help-data-centres-be-cool

Malaysia (APAC)
• “About 2% now” (current share), with projections to 52% of Peninsular Malaysia’s electricity use by 2035 (projection cited by Reuters). Source: Reuters.
- https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/malaysia-build-50-more-gas-fired-power-capacity-meet-data-centre-demand-official-2025-06-18/
Note: the projection is specifically for Peninsular Malaysia, not necessarily the entire country’s electricity use including East Malaysia.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Middle East)
• Projected to reach about 6% of national electricity consumption by 2028 (projection). Source: Emirates NBD Research.
- https://www.emiratesnbdresearch.com/en/articles/uae-data-center-capacity-to-surge-165-percent-by-2028

Australia (APAC)
• “Up from about 1% in 2025” and could represent “up to 11%” of Australia’s total electricity consumption by 2035 (projection). Source: Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
- https://www.cefc.com.au/insights/market-reports/data-centre-growth-and-the-energy-transition/
- https://www.cefc.com.au/media/media-release/data-centre-boom-to-reshape-australia-s-energy-future-cefc-baringa-report/

MezzoFluidics follows important rules/caveats for external publication
1) Always specify whether the statistic is “consumption,” “metered consumption,” or “generation” share, and the year.
2) Clearly label projections as projections (with the target year and geography).
3) Avoid mixing denominators (e.g., national “total electricity” vs “total metered electricity”) without explaining the difference.