California Bills Would Rein in Data Centers’ Energy Use

California lawmakers are proposing a series of bills to protect ratepayers from electricity rate hikes prompted by data centers, which use high amounts of energy, reports Khari Johnson for CALmatters. The amount of energy used by data centers has tripled in the last decade and could double or even triple again by 2028, curbing states’ efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“One measure, from Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of San Ramon, would require data centers and the developers of large AI models to publicly share how much energy they use. It would also make state energy regulators adopt efficiency standards for data centers.” Another bill would require utilities to create a rate structure specific to data centers, while yet another would incentivize the creation of jobs and zero-emission power sources.

“Just as increased traffic on roads leads to congestion and delays, the addition of large data center loads to the power grid can, in theory, drive up overall electricity demand and exacerbate transmission congestion, said UC Riverside professor Shaolei Ren, who studies the environmental impact of data centers.” Increased greenhouse gas emissions also contribute to higher health care costs and deaths. One study from the California Institute of Technology and UC Riverside estimates that data center emissions could contribute to roughly 1,300 premature deaths by 2030.