WHAT ABOUT DATA CENTRES? Powering progress or slowing climate action?

Demand for digital services has exploded — and with it, the rapid expansion of data centres providing the compute power behind everything from streaming and cloud storage to AI. But this growth could have serious climate consequences.

In this episode, James and Daisy explore the rise of data centres. What exactly are they? Why are they becoming so central to our lives? And how can we guide their future growth to align with our climate goals?

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS: 

• Cleaning Up (2025) – An on-location podcast episode where Michael Liebreich visits Sines, Portugal, where Start Campus is building a data centre, set to be Europe’s largest. 
• Carbon Brief (2025) – Five charts on data centre energy use and emissions. 
• Brookings (2025) – Analysis on the future of data centres. 

OTHER ADVOCATES AND RESOURCES:

• Green Mountain – SVG-Rennesøy is a Norwegian Tier III mountain hall data centre built inside a former high security NATO ammunition storage facility and cooled by fjord seawater.
• The Guardian (2025) – Google plans to put AI data centres into space, with the first trial equipment sent into orbit in early 2027. Solar panels powering these data centres could be up to eight times more productive than those on Earth. 
• Terrestrial Energy – A developer of Generation IV nuclear plants using proprietary Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology.
• NESO – The National Energy System Operator for Great Britain, responsible for electricity system planning amid rising demand.
• BBC (2023) – The waste heat from a washing-machine-sized data centre is being used to heat a public swimming pool in Devon.
• Bloomberg (2025) – Finland and Sweden are pairing data centres with district heating systems.
• WEF (2020) – Microsoft’s ‘Project Natick’ tested a shipping-container-sized underwater data centre off the coast of Orkney, Scotland, finding it was eight times more reliable than land-based equivalents.
• Kraken – An all-in-one, smart operating system automating much of the energy supply chain, supporting efficiency and flexibility as energy systems decarbonise.

SOME FACTS:

• MIT News (2025) – The first data centre was built at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945 to support the ENIAC, the first general-purpose digital computer. 
• IEA (2023) – Since 2010, the number of internet users worldwide has more than doubled, while internet traffic has increased 25-fold. Data centres and data transmission networks each account for 1-1.5% of global electricity use and around 1% of energy-related GHG emissions. 
• UK Parliament (2025) – Data centres consume around 2.5% of the UK’s electricity, with demand expected to quadruple by 2030.
• GOV.UK (2024) – Data centres are designated as Critical National Infrastructure, alongside energy and water systems.
• BBC (2025) – There are an estimated 500 data centres operating across the UK.
• McKinsey (2025) – By 2030, $6.7 trillion in global investment in data centres will be needed to meet demand for compute power, of which 70% will come from AI workloads. Demand for AI-ready data centre capacity is expected to grow by 33% per year between 2023 and 2030. By 2030, up to 65% of AI workloads in Europe and the United States will be hosted on hyperscalers’ infrastructure.
• Ofgem (2006) – One megawatt-hour (MWh) equals 1,000 kilowatt hours – roughly enough to power around 2,000 homes for one hour.
• MIT Sloan School of Management (2025) – When the full cost of delivering AI to customers is included, data centres could account for up to 21% of global energy demand by 2030.
• WEF – Power use in data centres is typically split between IT equipment (40–50%), cooling systems (30–40%), and auxiliary systems such as lighting and security (10–30%).
• NY Times (2025) – Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta spent more than $360 billion in capital expenditures over 12 months.
• CSO (2023) – Data centres already account for over 20% of Ireland’s total electricity consumption.
• IEA (2024) – Nearly one-third of Ireland’s electricity demand is expected to come from data centres by 2026.
• WEF (2025) – Climate hazards such as extreme heat and drought could add $81 billion per year in costs to data centres globally by 2035.
• The Guardian (2025) – More than 230 environmental groups have called for a national moratorium on new US data centres, citing rising electricity bills and worsening climate impacts.
• CNBC (2025) – Google, Oracle and Microsoft estimate AI hardware lifespans of up to six years, but sceptics such as short seller Michael Burry argue that they may be significantly shorter. 

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