▁Energy ▁consumption ▁ ▁Data ▁cent ers ▁attempt ▁to ▁accommod ate ▁the ▁ever - g row ing ▁rate ▁at ▁which ▁data ▁is ▁produced , ▁distributed , ▁and ▁stored . ▁Data ▁cent ers ▁are ▁large ▁facilities ▁used ▁by ▁enter pr ises ▁to ▁store ▁immense ▁datasets ▁on ▁servers . ▁In ▁ 2 0 1 4 ▁it ▁was ▁estimated ▁that ▁in ▁the ▁U . S . ▁alone ▁there ▁were ▁roughly ▁ 3 ▁million ▁data ▁cent ers , ▁r anging ▁from ▁small ▁cent ers ▁located ▁in ▁office ▁buildings ▁to ▁large ▁complex es ▁of ▁their ▁own . ▁In cre asing ly , ▁data ▁cent ers ▁are ▁storing ▁more ▁data ▁than ▁end - user ▁devices . ▁By ▁ 2 0 2 0 ▁it ▁is ▁predicted ▁that ▁ 6 1 % ▁of ▁total ▁data ▁will ▁be ▁stored ▁via ▁cloud ▁applications ▁( data ▁cent ers ) ▁in ▁contrast ▁to ▁ 2 0 1 0 ▁when ▁ 6 2 % ▁of ▁data ▁storage ▁was ▁on ▁end - user ▁devices . ▁An ▁increase ▁in ▁data ▁cent ers ▁for ▁data ▁storage ▁coinc ides ▁with ▁an ▁increase ▁in ▁energy ▁consumption ▁by ▁data ▁cent ers . ▁ ▁In ▁ 2 0 1 4 , ▁data ▁cent ers ▁in ▁the ▁U . S . ▁account ed ▁for ▁roughly ▁ 1 . 8 % ▁of ▁total ▁electric ity ▁consumption ▁which ▁equ ates ▁to ▁ 7 0 ▁billion ▁k Wh . ▁Between ▁ 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 1 4 ▁an ▁increase ▁of ▁ 4 % ▁was ▁attributed ▁to ▁electric ity ▁consumption ▁by ▁data ▁cent ers , ▁this