Data centre energy use has become a critical factor in business infrastructure strategy. Once a background cost, it now plays a direct role in decisions about operational resilience, sustainability reporting, and future capacity planning.
The scale of consumption is hard to ignore. Even smaller facilities can draw between 1 and 5 MW of continuous power, enough to supply thousands of homes. Larger hyperscale environments consume significantly more, 20 MW to over 100 MW of power.
In the UK, data centre energy consumption accounts for around 2.5% of the nation’s total electricity use, a significant share for a single sector. This impact is felt most in areas like London and Manchester, where clusters of facilities put additional pressure on already stretched energy networks. As scrutiny grows, energy performance and emissions reporting have become unavoidable priorities.
For businesses colocating infrastructure, this adds a new layer of operational risk. Rising energy costs, growing demand from AI workloads and tighter reporting rules all make energy strategy a key part of infrastructure planning. Decisions made now will determine how well businesses can control costs, manage resilience, and meet sustainability targets over the long term.
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In 2022, global data centre energy consumption, covering everything from AI workloads to cryptocurrency mining, reached around 415 TWh. To put that into perspective, it exceeded the UK’s entire annual electricity use and came close to matching that of France.
That figure is expected to rise, with forecasts suggesting consumption could reach between 620 and 1,050 TWh by 2026. Much of this increase will come from the rapid growth of AI and the continued expansion of digital infrastructure.
While the UK’s share is smaller in comparison, these global trends come with practical consequences. Where infrastructure is located, how efficiently it operates, and how clearly energy use is reported all feed into decisions tied to resilience, cost management and ESG goals.
AI data centre energy consumption is forcing a rethink of energy strategy. Unlike traditional IT, these workloads rely on dense, high-performance compute that draws more power and generates more heat.
This drives up cooling requirements and overall energy use, often beyond what older data centres were built to support. Without modern efficiency measures, organisations risk rising energy bills, reduced stability, and tighter capacity limits.
Infrastructure choices now need to reflect this, from workload placement to site selection, decisions must account for how AI impacts long-term performance, resilience, and emissions reporting.
In a medium-sized data centre pulling around 3 MW of power continuously, energy and cooling can make up over 50% of total operational costs once overheads are included. This affects both budgets and ESG reporting, as electricity use drives ongoing costs, while associated emissions must be reported under Scope 2 in sustainability disclosures. Getting a handle on actual energy use, both in pounds and carbon, helps businesses improve efficiency and meet ESG obligations.
At Pulsant, energy efficiency isn’t treated as a separate objective, it’s part of how infrastructure is delivered. From the design of our data centres to the decisions we help customers make about workload placement, reducing unnecessary energy use is built into the service.
Through platformEDGE™, organisations gain a clear view of where workloads are hosted across hybrid environments. This visibility makes it easier to identify opportunities for consolidation, improve utilisation, and align infrastructure choices with performance and efficiency goals.
Pulsant operates a network of 14 regional UK data centres, all connected through a private, low-latency network. These facilities are located in areas where cooler climates naturally help reduce the demand for intensive cooling. They’re built to deliver high availability while supporting customers’ efforts to manage energy consumption more effectively.
All of Pulsant’s data centres run on 100% renewable power, and energy use is factored into how capacity is planned and maintained. This allows customers to pursue sustainability objectives with confidence, knowing their infrastructure supports both performance and reporting requirements.
For businesses adapting to the growing demands of AI workloads or modernising ageing infrastructure, these foundations offer practical benefits. Better visibility, more efficient environments, and flexible workload placement help manage energy as part of a wider strategy focused on resilience, compliance, and cost control.