Will artificial intelligence use all our electricity?
Excavators and all sorts of machines rumble on in the background under the watchful eye of Alistair Speirs, Senior Director of Azure Global Infrastructure at Microsoft.
'A data centre is the home of the cloud. It's an industrial facility that holds thousands and thousands of servers. It's powering all the cloud services that we use for work, for home, gaming, streaming, financial services, education and even medicine,' he says, pointing at the construction site behind him.
This future data centre campus aims to be one of the most innovative yet for the American tech giant. 'This data centre will be one of the most sustainable data centres in Europe,' the engineer explains. ' Excess heat that's generated from the data centre will go on to heat around 250,000 houses in the area.'
It was this promise that made the project so attractive to local authorities, who have welcomed data centres on their soil. ' This data centre will be our main source of clean heating,' says Kai Mykkänen, mayor of Espoo and Finland's former Minister of Climate and the Environment.
The vast, sparsely populated areas and long, cold winters make Finland an ideal location for these behemoths, which have to install energy- and water-hungry cooling mechanisms in warmer climates. What's more, the local electricity grid is well equipped. 'Finland has a huge amount of clean electricity. We've been able to scale up electricity production during the past ten years from non-fossil sources, better than in most areas in Europe. And we have a very strong national grid connection. So it was possible to find a location where there is a strong grid, enough electricity, and then also a need for this excess heat,' says the mayor.
But these data centres are not so easy to host all over Europe. In Ireland, for example, in 2023, the country was forced to halt the construction of new centres in the Greater Dublin area. In one year, the existing data centres had consumed as much electricity as the whole country's urban housing.
European startups join the race for energy
Not all energy networks are adapted to such a high electricity demand. And it's not going to get any easier. In its latest report, dated 10 April 2025, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that by 2030, data centre global electricity consumption will have doubled, and even quadrupled for AI-optimised data centres. So how can we cope with such a surge in demand, especially at a time when Europe has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by half compared to 1990, to achieve its goal of being climate-neutral by 2050?
For many tech companies, a lot of the energetic cost comes from developing and training AI models. Some European players are trying to optimise the resources they have to decrease the electricity bill. That's the case of Kyutai, a French AI research lab. In their Parisian office, facing Les Halles and the Bourse de Commerce, Kyutai developers work in open source: they make their research available so that others wanting to replicate their models can access it, use it, and avoid repeating the same processes of trial and error they went through. And that saves energy.
'Our aim with open source is to ensure that the cost of training is worth it, by reducing the cost of experimentation for other structures, whether they're start-ups or other competing labs,' says Alexandre Défossez, Chief Exploration Officer at the startup, tapping out lines of code on his computer.
'Some big American companies are focused on performance at all costs. Us European players, we have access to and use far fewer computing resources than the Americans. So that also forces us to be a bit clever about what we do,' he adds.
Thirty-five nuclear power plants to cover our needs
Engineer Marlène de Bank is focused on finding solutions to reconciling AI energy consumption with the climate transition. De Bank researches digital tech at The Shift Project, a French think tank working on decarbonising the economy.
'The demand for AI at European level is 35 gigawatts. 1 gigawatt is one nuclear power plant. So we're going to have to add the equivalent of 35 nuclear power stations. If it's something else, that means we'll have to add 35 times that equivalent. We also have to find it,' she explains.
The think tank is currently drawing up a report assessing the impact of AI on the climate transition. At the moment, they are undecided as to whether AI is entirely good or bad for the environment. AI can help us do things like prevent natural disasters or manage waste, but it can also help optimise oil extraction.
De Bank believes that a lot depends on what AI is used for. 'It's like a car. To travel one kilometre, you can choose to bike instead. So your carbon emissions at the end of the year depend on how many times you've driven and how many times you've cycled. For AI, it's going to depend on how often you use AI and how often you use your brain instead.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Mind the skills gap: Older workers falling behind in training
Working life and skills are changing fast. Some jobs are booming, others are disappearing, says the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025. The OECD warns: 'There is an urgent need to boost the skills of older workers.' However, older workers (55–65 year-olds) take part in non-formal learning and training much less than those aged 25–54 year-olds, the OECD finds. On average, the rate is 32% versus 49% in 23 European countries, though the gap differs across countries. Where do older people learn the most—and the least? What do experts and the OECD recommend? When do we stop learning? According to the OECD Employment Outlook 2025 report, participation in formal and non-formal adult learning declines with age. In 2023, only a third of 60–65 year-olds took part in adult learning in the 12 months before the survey, compared with more than half of 25–44 year-olds. The averages cover 29 countries, 22 of which are in Europe. The share of the population participating in adult learning is over 60% among 25–29 year-olds, but drops to 39% for those aged 55–59 and to 31% for those aged 60–65. This share starts to decline clearly after the age of 45. Non-formal training was far more common than formal learning (training leading to a qualification) across all age groups. This was especially true for older individuals, with only 1% of 60–65 year-olds participating in formal learning. Learning by doing also decreases with age. Why do older people take part in learning less? Lower participation in non-formal learning among older individuals may be due to less willingness to train or other barriers, such as time constraints or course costs. According to the report, a lower willingness to train is likely a key factor. The share of people who wanted to participate in training—whether or not they actually did—falls from about 60% among 25–44 year-olds to 37% among those aged 60–65. A similar pattern appears in the share of people who participated in less training than they wanted, which drops from 28% among 25–34 year-olds to 17% among those aged 55–65. The report shows that time constraints are less of a barrier to training for older people than for younger groups. Among 55–65-year-olds, 7% took part in less training than they wanted due to time constraints—5% citing work-related reasons and 2% family reasons. In contrast, 15% of 35–44 year-olds reported time constraints as a barrier, with 8% pointing to work and 7% to family responsibilities. Large differences across European countries In every OECD country, including all European ones in the list, older individuals (55–65 year-olds) take part in non-formal learning less than the prime-age group (25–54 year-olds). However, both their participation rates and the size of the age gap vary greatly. The highest participation in non-formal training among 55–65 year-olds is seen in the Nordic countries—Norway, Finland, and Denmark—at around 50%. Sweden ranks fifth with 43%. The European average (22 countries) is 31.7%, compared with 34.9% across the OECD (29 countries). The lowest participation in non-formal training for this age group was in Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, all below 18%. Outside the Nordic countries, England has the highest participation at 43.5%, followed by the Netherlands (41.7%) and Ireland (40.9%). Among Europe's five largest economies, Italy has the lowest participation at 18.5%, followed by France at 21.7%. Germany stands at 34.9%, slightly above the average. The participation gap between 25–54-year-olds and 55–65-year-olds is widest in Portugal at 24.7 percentage points (pp) and smallest in Italy at 8.9 pp. However, this does not mean older people are doing better in Italy, as their participation rate is the fourth lowest in Europe. Is this a surprise? Not at all One reason older people are less likely to engage in training—and employers are less likely to fund it—is the lower expected return on such investment due to shorter remaining working lives, the report notes. This is no surprise in economic theory. According to ManpowerGroup, 75% of employers in 21 European countries were unable to find workers with the right skills in 2023. 'Continuous learning is essential' Pawel Adrjan, Director of Economic Research at Indeed, told Euronews Business that continuous learning is essential in a fast-evolving market. As with previous technological innovations, professionals who proactively learn new tools, platforms, and methodologies will be better positioned to work efficiently with emerging technologies. The OECD noted that higher employment rates among older workers can help employers preserve valuable knowledge and skills while boosting productivity. 'There is an urgent need to boost the skills of older workers and promote their participation in well-targeted training,' the organisation recommends. How can governments respond? OECD offers four main actions that the governments can do. They included: Focus on boosting skills of older workers Address barriers to job-to-job mobility Confront ageism and other forms of discrimination Revive productivity growth, including through AI and automation Across the EU, people are living longer than in past decades. Many countries have responded by raising the retirement age, keeping people in the workforce for more years.
Fashion Network
a day ago
- Fashion Network
Is anybody fighting back in this trade war?
By no means does the firm anticipate zero harm. Business confidence is down but not collapsing. Capital spending will be constrained. And while chances of recession are still high, a better outcome remains very plausible. This sort of guarded optimism — or qualified pessimism — is a break from the dark warnings. Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central Bank, told leaders to prepare for a worst-case scenario in which an antagonistic US drags the world into destructive economic conflict. The prime minister of Singapore, a city-state that thrived during the heyday of free trade, couldn't hide his dismay: Tariffs aren't the actions of friends, Lawrence Wong noted. His Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, declared that relations with the US would be changed forever. Chinese President Xi Jinping has studiously matched American moves but also toned down his rhetoric and actions when appropriate. Washington and Beijing this week extended a pause on higher tariffs for 90 days, the latest in a series of suspensions. India, which has been the subject of some bullish projections as China's economy has slowed, is one of the few economies of significance that hasn't cut a deal with Trump. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hasn't gone measure for measure or shown a desire to get even with American businesses. Yes, there has been indignity and hurt feelings. The governor of the Reserve Bank of India dismissed Trump's claim that commerce was dead there. He touted India's contribution to global growth — about 18% compared to around 11% for the US — and insisted the local economy was doing well. This is in the ballpark, based on IMF projections. It also misses the point that in pure size, America dwarfs India. Brazil, a comer that struggles to make good on its potential, is also refusing to bend. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva loathes dependence on the US and wants to be treated as an equal. But Trump doesn't like a court case against Lula's predecessor for allegedly plotting a coup. Brazil is trying to develop an alternative to the dollar and places great store in commercial ties to the BRICS group of emerging economies. Many of those nations, and aspiring members of the bloc, have cut deals with Trump, or are likely to do so. Brazil will come to some arrangement. So has Trump got away with it? His aides reckoned that access to the American market is too lucrative to pass up, and they may have been right. It would also be naive to conclude there won't be any cost. The global economy has slowed but hasn't crashed, foreigners still purchase US Treasuries and it's a safe bet that the greenback will be at the centre of the financial system for years. But the nations humiliated won't forget this experience. Asia's economies will only get bigger and the siren call of greater integration with China will get louder. Trump's efforts to destroy the existing order may yet prove an own goal. Just not this year. Clayton, who became the top economic official at the State Department, believed that robust trade among the shattered nations of Western Europe was as important as physical rebuilding. The economic dislocation wrought by the conflagration had been underestimated; capitalism could revive the continent and prevent the political implosion of key countries. According to Benn Steil's book The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War, Clayton insisted that the US 'must run this show.' Trump's team brag about reconfiguring the system that grew from the ideals of the post-war era. The hubris may ultimately prove misplaced.
Fashion Network
2 days ago
- Fashion Network
Why Swatch is facing tough times
The Swatch brand is credited with having saved a Swiss watch industry that had been laid low by the so-called quartz revolution. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, these less expensive and more accurate watches from an ascendant Japan upended European mechanical watchmaking. Swatch's response? Tap into the '80s zeitgeist with colourful, low-priced designs—funky, artistic, eclectic and made for collectors along with a whole new demographic that saw them as fashion, not function. Swatch used its skyrocketing revenue to support its more staid, traditional brands while acquiring new ones. But fast forward to today, and the market's changed: phones and smartwatches have undercut low-cost watches, leaving luxury as the main engine for growth. And a new set of problems, from low sales in China to Donald Trump 's tariffs, have made matters even worse. The luxury spending slowdown in China has hurt all brands, but Swatch got hit more than most, given that 27% of its 2024 sales were attributable to the Asian nation. While the company said last month that sales data now show a possible turnaround, any recovery in China is expected to be slow. Meanwhile, Trump's radical imposition of a 39% tariff on imports from Switzerland puts high-end watch brands in a corner, since they can't raise prices much more in the current environment. Simultaneously, investors have been calling out Swatch, urging it to capitalise on the still-lucrative high-end segment. Steven Wood, founder and chief investment officer of New York-based GreenWood Investors, even mounted a campaign to win a seat on Swatch's board. He was defeated, but his intervention may underline the frustration among investors worried about the company's future. The Hayek family, which controls more than 40% of Swatch voting rights, has pushed back by saying it shouldn't just be making watches for the wealthy. To be sure, Swatch managed some mainstream success as recently as 2022, with the MoonSwatch. The quartz-driven timepiece leaned on the heritage and look of the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, an iconic watch worn on Apollo moon missions. Swatch sold more than a million of them that year, but it's struggled to generate the same sort of buzz across the rest of the group.
