A Researcher in Denmark Aims to Reduce AI Reliance on Data Centers

Associate Professor Subham Sahoo at Aalborg University in Denmark has developed a new technology called Power to Compute, or P2C, to help reduce the heavy electricity consumption of artificial intelligence data centers. Currently, data centers account for 2.5 percent of the European Union's electricity consumption, putting significant pressure on the energy system alongside the ongoing green transition and corporate electrification.

The P2C technology addresses this issue by utilizing existing energy infrastructure, such as the control electronics in solar cell systems, to handle minor AI computational tasks sent from data centers. Instead of solely managing power, these connected devices solve the small tasks and return the response, thereby distributing the workload across equipment that is already in place within the electricity grid.

Preliminary laboratory calculations show that P2C can potentially lower data centers energy consumption by about 10 percent and reduce server cooling costs by 10 to 20 percent. This approach acts as a supplement rather than a replacement for data centers, allowing them to process more tasks without expanding physical capacity or requiring as much new physical infrastructure.

Several Danish companies have expressed interest in participating in large-scale trials, and the researcher aims to transition the technology from the laboratory into real test environments as soon as the right partners and data are secured.