Berkeley Lab advances energy-efficient, AI-ready U.S. data centers

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory outlines multiple initiatives to improve the energy and water efficiency of U.S. data centers that underpin AI and high-performance computing.

• Berkeley Lab’s programs and tools – including the updated United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (2014–2028), NERSC liquid/direct-to-chip cooling retrofits, CoE tools (DC Pro, Air Management Tool Suite, Electrical Power Chain Tool), and the Modelica Buildings Library and MOSTCOOL – target reduced electricity use, cooling energy, and water consumption, e.g., 42% cut in non-IT power, >2 million kWh and 0.5 million gallons saved annually at NERSC, plus 8% cooling energy reduction and >1 million gallons saved via best-practice retrofits.
• Industry collaboration and standards efforts span work with top AI companies, utilities, Meta, Carrier, Open Compute Project, Energy Efficiency High-Performance Computing Working Group, and BP Castrol, producing liquid cooling specifications down to chip level, guidelines for transfer fluids, workforce training via the Data Center Energy Practitioner Training Program, and stakeholder input (≈150 attendees at the 2025 OCP Global Summit listening session) to refine models showing data centers may reach up to 12% of U.S. electricity consumption by 2028.