US data centers annually consume the output of five 1000 megawatt power plants, says report author Jonathan Koomey, a consulting professor at Stanford University and scientist at America's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Total data center electricity consumption in 2005, in the US alone, was approximately 45 billion kWh once you allow for cooling and auxiliary equipment. This represented 1.2 per cent of US electricity consumption, comparable to the amount of power consumed by all of the country's color televisions.{moscomment}