We focused this month on the environmental impacts of data centres, the huge warehouses that house equipment for internet (cloud) storage and artificial intelligence (AI) queries. In August 2025, a BBC news report estimated that there were 477 data centres in the UK; planning research suggests almost 100 more will be built in the next 5 years. For example, in Blyth, Northumberland, a £10billion campus of up to 10 data centres is planned to start construction in 2031.
Although there are growing concerns about the energy and water demands of these buildings, data about their consumption is not readily available and, as 'Critical National Infrastructure', they are subject to few planning restrictions.
Energy use: A government briefing (Nov25) said data centres currently consume about 2.5% of the UK's electricity, a figure that is expected to increase four-fold by 2030. In Dublin from 2021-2025 there was a moratorium on the building of new data centres because of the strain on the national grid operator. In 2025 they accounted for 20% of Ireland's energy demand.
The largest (hyperscale) data centres typically require more than 100 megawatts of power [Ofgem estimates that one megawatt of energy would power 2000 UK homes for an hour] Consumers influence energy consumption - choosing an AI chatbot such as ChatGPT uses more energy than a regular internet search. A report by MIT estimates that creating a five-second video with new AI models uses the same amount of energy as running a microwave for more than an hour.
Despite regular parliamentary briefings (TechUK/ Environment Agency), there is no verified information available about the total number of digital queries directed to data centres each day. IBM estimates that in 2024 Google had 82% of the global search engine market and that in 2025 ChatGPT had nearly 900 million weekly active users (sci-tech-today.com). Until alternative power supplies are mandated for data centres, their huge demands on the UK electricity grid may lead to extended power cuts, hospital black-outs, communications, financial and transport networks, water supplies and food chains failing (and rising costs for domestic consumers).
Water use: Many data centres require vast quantities of water for cooling. A BBC news report (Feb25) explains that "data centres use fresh mains water, rather than surface water, so that the pipes, pumps and heat exchangers used to cool racks of servers do not get clogged up with contaminants". The report quoted a water resources management specialist, who said that a typical data centre can use between 11 million and 19 million litres of water per day, roughly the same as a town of 30,000-50,000 people.
An Environment Agency report (June25) warned that England faces a 5billion litres/day shortfall for public water supplies by 2055 – and a further 1billion litres/day deficit for the wider economy (including energy generation, food production, and digital technologies) - (gov.uk/government/publications/national-framework-for-water-resources-2025). The long term consequences of excessive water consumption by data centres include threats to safe drinking water supplies, the health of rivers and lakes, the survival of species dependant on watercourses and wetlands, and the loss of essential groundwater in agricultural soils.
No space for 'Good News' this month, but we plan to post our findings on the Teesdale u3a website - including a briefing on ways we can all reduce our use of data storage and AI queries.
Kate Bailey