IEA: AI power consumption is nothing, the real "power consumer" in the future is this field, with demand three times that of data centers

Still talking endlessly about the power consumption of AI data centers? The International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that a significant increase in air conditioning usage will lead to a 6% higher electricity consumption in 2035 compared to last year's expectations.

On Wednesday, IEA stated in the "World Energy Outlook" report that the increase in income in developing countries and the rise in temperatures due to climate change mean that the electricity consumption of household air conditioning units will exceed the electricity consumption of the entire Middle East today.

The report also mentioned that by 2030, air conditioning will require an additional 697TWh of electricity, more than three times the additional demand of computer data centers.

It is projected that by 2050, residential air conditioning energy use is expected to increase by 280%.

"Many decision-makers fail to see the importance of air conditioning as a driver of global electricity consumption, which is a blind spot," said IEA's Fatih Birol in an interview with the Financial Times.

"Specifically, in the United States and Japan, 90% of households have air conditioning, but Nigeria only has 5%, Indonesia only has 15%, and India is less than 20%. With increasing income levels and the growing impact of climate change, people are purchasing air conditioners, which is a major driving factor."

IEA stated that excluding other variable factors, by 2050, residential air conditioning energy use is expected to increase by 280%, accounting for 14% of the total energy demand of buildings, while currently this proportion is less than 7%.

And if the climate continues to warm, the demand for air conditioning may become even stronger.

In contrast, although the energy consumption of AI data centers is increasing, its impact on the power grid is relatively small. IEA stated:

"There are over 11,000 registered data centers globally, which are typically concentrated spatially, so they may have a significant local impact on the electricity market.

However, globally, by 2030, data centers are expected to account for a relatively small share of the overall growth in electricity demand."

IEA stated that global electricity demand is growing at a rate of 1000TWh per year, equivalent to adding Japan's electricity consumption every year. The organization also raised its demand forecast for 2035 by 6% to 37,371TWh