Is the environmental impact of datacentres finally cutting through?

In this week’s newsletter: Anti-datacentre sentiment is growing across the political spectrum in the US – and the public is only just finding out about the potential effects on their energy bills Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Anti-datacentre sentiment is growing from across the political spectrum in the US. More than a dozen states have considered moratoria on datacentres. New York became the first US state to enact a temporary ban last month. Progressive stalwarts Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed a national moratorium. And even Greg Abbott, the far-right governor of Texas, called for a ban on datacentre development in rural swaths of his state. Fuelling alarm about datacentres are environmental concerns over water usage and toxic contamination, as well as worries about the kind of society that the artificial-intelligence technologies powered by the new datacentres are creating. Another of the most politically potent objections strikes closer to the wallet: data centres require enormous amounts of electricity, and that increase in demand can drive up utility bills. More on datacentres’ impact on electri