text: **Power needs and environmental impacts**
  
  In January 2024, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released*Electricity 2024, Analysis and Forecast*
  *to 2026*, forecasting electric power use.[203] This is the first IEA report to make projections for data 
  centers and power consumption for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. The report states that power 
  demand for these uses might double by 2026, with additional electric power usage equal to electricity 
  used by the whole Japanese nation.[204] 
  
  Prodigious power consumption by AI is responsible for the growth of fossil fuels use, and might delay 
  closings of obsolete, carbon-emitting coal energy facilities. There is a feverish rise in the construction of 
  data centers throughout the US, making large technology firms (e.g., Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon) 
  into voracious consumers of electric power. Projected electric consumption is so immense that there is 
  concern that it will be fulfilled no matter the source. A ChatGPT search involves the use of 10 times the 
  electrical energy as a Google search. The large firms are in haste to find power sources – from nuclear 
  energy to geothermal to fusion. The tech firms argue that – in the long view – AI will be eventually 
  kinder to the environment, but they need the energy now. AI makes the power grid more efficient and 
  "intelligent", will assist in the growth of nuclear power, and track overall carbon emissions, according to 
  technology firms.[205] 