Download This Show Does Australia have the energy and water to power the AI data centre boom?
Apr 3, 2026
Dr Bronwyn Cumbo, a UTS lecturer researching infrastructure and community impacts. Petra Stock, a Guardian climate reporter covering data centre energy and water risks. They unpack how AI supercharges power and cooling needs. They map Australia’s growing data centre footprint, forecast massive electricity and water demand, and explore local community and planning challenges.
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AI Dramatically Amplifies Data Centre Resource Needs
- AI drastically increases data centre resource intensity compared with ordinary cloud tasks, requiring more powerful chips, servers and cooling.
- Petra Stock explains AI queries and model processing demand far higher energy and water than simple searches, citing heavy GPU workloads.
Data Centres Already Use Significant National Power
- Data centres already consume a nontrivial share of electricity and can be as large as the usage of 100,000 households for a hyperscale site.
- Petra Stock cites AEMO and IEA figures showing current ~2% share and single hyperscale centres matching 100,000 homes.
Future Data Centre Demand Could Be Enormous
- Forecasts predict rapid growth: data centres could consume more power than all EVs within five years and reach ~21 TWh in a decade.
- Petra Stock references AEMO projections and compares 21 TWh to Australia's aluminium smelters' usage.