With more than 18 million servers operating globally, data centers represent 1% of the entire global demand for power. Servers require large amounts of electricity and are heavily affected by turbulent energy costs. Due to the colossal amount of energy these facilities consume, data center owners and managers — and even governments — worldwide are seeking more energy-efficient solutions.
Recent years have seen an increase in the percentage of total data center energy use due to the growing demand for information services and computer-intensive applications, such as AI, ML, automation, self-driving vehicles, and beyond. While many older, less efficient data centers have shut down, the total energy used by data centers worldwide remains relatively high. Research predicts that global data center energy consumption will increase anywhere from three- to eightfold by 2030, but there are opportunities to improve data center energy efficiency with advanced sensor technology.