In response to a bipartisan letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley, the US Energy Information Administration plans a mandatory nationwide survey on data centers' energy use—the first effort to collect such data amid AI-driven growth. WIRED obtained the EIA's letter to the senators detailing the initiative.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the federal government's primary energy statistics agency, has informed Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) of its plans to conduct a mandatory nationwide survey on data centers' power consumption. This follows the senators' March letter urging annual reporting to address surging electricity demands from AI and cloud computing infrastructure.
Obtained by WIRED, the EIA's response commits to gathering baseline data previously unavailable, amid scrutiny over data centers' environmental footprint and grid strain. No rollout timeline was specified, but the agency emphasized proceeding with mandatory collection.
This development builds on bipartisan efforts to enhance transparency, aiding policymakers in managing costs for households and planning for projected demand surges, such as BloombergNEF's forecast of data center energy use more than doubling by 2035.