In its relentless drive to lead the artificial intelligence and cloud computing revolution, Google is confronting an increasingly urgent challenge: energy consumption. As AI workloads intensify, the company’s power needs are soaring, pushing its sustainability goals to the limit.

According to Google’s latest sustainability report released in late June, its global data centers consumed 30.8 million megawatt-hours of electricity in 2024—more than double the 14.4 million megawatt-hours used in 2020. That sharp rise underscores just how energy-hungry AI and cloud services have become. For added context, in 2014, Google’s data center usage was estimated to be just over 4 million megawatt-hours—a staggering sevenfold increase in a decade.

This rapid rise now defines Google’s energy footprint. In 2024, data centers made up an overwhelming 95.8% of the company’s total electricity usage, a ratio that has remained nearly constant for the last four years.

Much of the demand stems from the computational intensity required by AI models and cloud infrastructure. Google, long praised for its energy efficiency innovations—such as cutting-edge cooling technologies and hardware optimization—now faces diminishing returns in that space.

The company’s Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a standard measure of data center efficiency, has plateaued near its theoretical optimum. In 2024, Google reported a PUE of 1.09, only slightly better than 1.10 the previous year, and just a marginal improvement from 1.11 in 2014.

With efficiency gains largely maxed out, the company’s focus is shifting toward sourcing more carbon-free energy. And that effort is ramping up.

In 2024 alone, Google secured 600 megawatts of solar capacity in South Carolina and another 700 megawatts in Oklahoma. The tech giant is collaborating with energy firms like Intersect Power and TPG Rise Climate to build multiple gigawatts of clean energy infrastructure—an investment estimated at $20 billion.

Still, clean energy isn’t without challenges. Solar and wind remain the most widely used renewable sources, but they’re intermittent and dependent on location. Acknowledging these constraints, Google is now exploring more stable alternatives like geothermal and nuclear power.

Through a partnership with Fervo Energy, the company is investing in enhanced geothermal systems that can provide consistent, weather-independent electricity. On the nuclear front, it plans to purchase 200 megawatts from Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ Arc fusion plant (slated for the early 2030s), and another 500 megawatts from Kairos Power’s small modular fission reactors.

However, these nuclear solutions remain years away. For now, renewables—bolstered by battery storage—will have to shoulder the growing energy burden.

Despite its progress, Google still falls short of its ambitious carbon-free goals. In 2024, just 66% of its global data center electricity was matched with clean energy on an hourly basis. Regional disparities are striking: Latin America achieved 92% hourly matching, while operations in the Middle East and Africa lagged significantly at only 5%.

While Google’s energy journey is far from over, one thing is clear—its race to build the future of AI is matched by an equally urgent mission to power that future sustainably.