Data centers consumed about 485 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2025, or roughly 1.5% of global generation according to the IEA. AI-focused facilities account for about a third of that total, around 0.5% of world electricity. Demand is heavily concentrated in a few regions: data centers use over 20% of electricity in Ireland and more than 25% in Virginia. This local strain matters more than the global average. Individual AI queries use very little energy. A typical text query to Gemini or ChatGPT consumes around 0.24 to 0.34 watt-hours, comparable to a few seconds of a microwave. Longer queries with reasoning or agents can reach 50 watt-hours. For context, the average EU resident uses about 17,000 watt-hours per day. The real challenge is not each query but the rapid buildout of dedicated AI data centers in specific grids, which will test interconnection queues and local power supply.
