By Laila Kearney
The information service of the US Department of Energy will launch a series of pilot surveys on Wednesday to evaluate the energy consumption of data centers across the country, the agency’s administrator told Reuters. Silicon Valley is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in expanding high-energy consumption data centers throughout the United States, but the extent of the energy consumption surge in this sector remains uncertain. Surveys show that Americans are concerned about whether the energy needs of artificial intelligence will increase their electricity bills, as technology giants consider using nuclear energy, natural gas, or coal to power their data centers.
“It’s really a data exploration exercise to understand exactly what is happening in this very important part of the economy that we don’t have much visibility into,” said Tristan Abbey, director of the Energy Information Administration, at the CERAWeek conference in Houston.
The EIA will begin surveys in three states before expanding to others. Virginia, home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world, is one of these three states, along with Washington state and Texas. The initial survey questions aim to determine whether data centers have backup power supply and, if so, what types of fuels they use, according to Tristan Abbey.
“In the end, we will have a patchwork of different elements that we know and we will be able to launch a classic type of investigation,” said Tristan Abbey.
In 2024, the EIA initiated a survey on cryptocurrency mining operations, which are a different type of data center, using emergency authority. The survey was halted after two cryptocurrency mining companies filed a lawsuit, claiming that the investigation was hasty and invasive.
Tristan Abbey, who took office in September of last year, stated that this pilot survey would be implemented gradually.
