We need to talk about data centres — An Taisce expert insight briefing webinar

Data Centres growth is stripping out Ireland’s energy transition and ensuring climate and environmental failure 

An expert insight briefing webinar from An Taisce – the National Trust for Ireland concluded that the policy agenda for the continued growth of data centres in Ireland is being set by the Big Tech sector and not the national interest. 

Phoebe Duvall, senior planning and environmental officer, An Taisce, Prof Barry McMullin, DCU and An Taisce Climate Committee, Dr Patrick Brodie, UCD and Dr Elaine McGoff, Head of Advocacy, An Taisce outlined the socio-economic impacts of a fivefold increase in data centres power consumption since 2015, where data centres are projected by EirGrid to need at least 30% of national electricity by 2030.

The webinar was opened by Terri Morrissey, Chair, An Taisce and facilitated by Helen Shaw, Chair, An Taisce Climate Committee. With 121 data centres in Ireland, mostly clustered around the greater Dublin metro region, their energy demands are set to grow by 1 Twh a year and are outpacing all renewable developments. Phoebe Duvall and Barry McMullin emphasised that this data centres energy growth projection is ensuring Ireland remains tied to fossil fuels and dependent on imported fossil fuel energy.  

“We need an independent national review of this”, according to Phoebe Duvall. “We don't have a lot of this data collated into one place. So we need to look at the current and projected
 data centre demand, focusing on our compliance with emissions reduction commitments, impacts on renewables growth, impacts on the grid, impacts on our energy bills. And that should inform a new national policy and regulations on the level of future data centre development, if any, that can be accommodated here. And until such a policy is enacted, we need a moratorium on future data centre development”.  

The embedded use of generative AI in online platforms, often with no opt out option, is driving demand. A further issue, raised by Dr McGoff, is the under-reported impact of the growing data centres on water extraction and pollution. The lack of transparency and reporting by the Big Tech operators particularly on water usage, was flagged. The issue of water, as a long term social and environmental cost of mass data centre farms, is increasingly becoming evident. For example, in Oregon, in the United States, Amazon has recently been ordered to pay 20 million dollars settlement over water pollution issues there.  

• The An Taisce expert briefings are a new occasional series designed to engaged and facilitate public conversations around key, contemporary environmental and climate in Ireland.  

You can see the overview slides by Phoebe Duvall here. 

You can watch the recording of the session via An Taisce's YouTube (or view below).  

You can read a transcript of the webinar here.  

You can read An Taisce Policy Position Paper on Data Centres here.  

Get Involved. Join An Taisce to support and participate in this work. 

You can also read Professor Jennie Stephens piece in the Irish Times on relationships between the relentless AI race, Ireland's datacentre growth, and fossil fuel lock-in.