{"id":1673,"date":"2026-10-02T16:20:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/?p=1673"},"modified":"2026-10-02T16:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T16:21:00","slug":"its-truly-staggering-theres-a-bigger-problem-with-data-centres-than-water-or-power-warn-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/2026\/10\/02\/its-truly-staggering-theres-a-bigger-problem-with-data-centres-than-water-or-power-warn-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s truly staggering’: There’s a bigger problem with data centres than water or power, warn experts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Truly staggering\u2019: There’s a bigger problem with data centres than water or power, warn experts<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The real story isn’t what these giant facilities consume. It’s what’s holding them up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Greg Noone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Around the world, a backlash is growing against one of the most power-hungry pieces of infrastructure behind our increasingly digital lives: data centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the outside, they typically resemble giant, squat warehouses. Inside are row upon row of humming computer servers, consuming electricity around the clock and generating so much heat that huge cooling systems are needed to stop them from overheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you\u2019d expect, this takes an enormous amount of water. In 2023, US data centres used around 66 billion litres \u2013 and a single large site can get through as much in a day as a town of up to 50,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there are the power demands. By the end of 2025, the US had more than 4,000 data centres with around 50 gigawatts of capacity, enough to power London more than 10 times over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little wonder, then, that people are starting to push back. Although the Trump administration has publicly supported the US data centre boom, 69 per cent of respondents to a recent NBC News poll said they would oppose an AI data centre being built in their neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But just how worried should we be about the big data centre build? What will these enormous facilities mean for the communities being asked to host them? And, with billions being bet on an uncertain AI future, how many will actually be constructed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home truths<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For all the controversy surrounding them, having a data centre move into your neighbourhood isn\u2019t necessarily all bad news. At least economically: these facilities can boost local tax revenues and create permanent jobs, though usually only in the low hundreds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developers may also pay to upgrade local substations, roads and emergency services. Some even generate their own power on-site and sink wells to access groundwater rather than relying entirely on public supplies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, the people living nearby are likely to use many of the digital services these facilities make possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, for Dr Ben Green \u2013 an assistant professor of information and public policy at the University of Michigan and author of Algorithmic Realism: Data Science Practices to Promote Social Justice<\/em> \u2013 the question is whether communities are getting enough in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The proposed expansion of data centres into residential areas has been met with waves of resistance in the US and UK, amid fears that they could cause localised water shortages, or increase noise and air pollution. Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In some areas, developers have signed \u2018community benefits agreements\u2019, committing them to provide money or other improvements for the places hosting their facilities. Green sees these as a step in the right direction, but says there are limits to what they can achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still think that the actual scale of those agreements tends to be pretty paltry compared to the scale of the data centre itself,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crucially, communities don\u2019t necessarily get much say over where the agreement money goes. Green argues that developers can choose to fund projects that suit them, while concerns that truly matter more to local residents go unaddressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A developer might prefer to \u201cthrow a few million dollars into the fire department\u201d, he says, rather than tackle something residents may care more about, such as reducing the noise coming from the data centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n