Irish data centres now use more power than city homes
Share of Ireland's metered electricity consumption, %, 2015–2025.
- 1. China leads research in 57 of 64 critical technologies
- 2. China's international patent filings grew sixfold since 2010
- 3. Nearly half of top AI researchers studied in China
- 4. China's research spending rose from 12% to 88% of America's
- 5. China spends more importing chips than crude oil
- 6. Four tech giants spent $358 billion on infrastructure in 2025
- 7. Two in three working satellites are now Starlinks
- 8. Irish data centres now use more power than city homes
- 9. Indians now file more patents at home than Germans
- 10. India published more science papers than Germany and Britain combined
- 11. Brazilians now use Pix more often than all cards combined
- 12. Poland's digital service exports grew fivefold in a decade
of Ireland's metered electricity went to data centres in 2025, up from 5% in 2015.
Data centre use grew from 1,240 GWh to 7,663 GWh in ten years.
Urban homes' share in 2025. Data centres matched them in 2022 and passed them in 2023.
the numbers & method
| Year | Data centres (%) | Urban households (%) | Rural households (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5 | 22 | 12 |
| 2016 | 6 | ||
| 2017 | 7 | ||
| 2018 | 8 | ||
| 2019 | 9 | ||
| 2020 | 11 | ||
| 2021 | 14 | ||
| 2022 | 18 | 18 | 10 |
| 2023 | 21 | 18 | 10 |
| 2024 | 22 | 18 | 10 |
| 2025 | 23 | 18 | 9 |
Claim types Fact
Data centre shares (2015–2025) come from CSO Table 1. Household shares come only from the years CSO states them: 2015 and 2025 (2025 release), 2023 (2023 release), 2024 (2024 release), and 2022 (CSO as quoted by The Irish Times, 12 June 2023). No shares are published for 2016–2021. Metered consumption only. Corrected 3 Nov 2026: title shortened to 10 words or fewer; no change to the data.
Published 14 Oct 2026
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