AI datacentres compete with homes for water, power in UK towns

What happened

Slough, a town 20 miles west of London, now hosts 40 datacentres—the densest cluster in western Europe—owned by companies like Equinix, Digital Realty, and Iron Mountain that serve Amazon, Google, Oracle, and Microsoft. Early research from Cambridge University suggests datacentres can raise local temperatures by an average of 2C, and as much as 9C. Water UK warned that datacentres can use up to 5m gallons a day, equivalent to the consumption of up to 50,000 people, and that the government's water forecasts "explicitly exclude" them.

Why it matters

The UK aims to triple its number of datacentres by 2030, but they are consuming vast amounts of water and electricity (often powered by fossil fuels and diesel backup generators) in areas already stressed by drought and heat. A December London Assembly report showed datacentres' electricity demands have stalled housebuilding in the capital. Last week, housing secretary Angela Rayner approved a redevelopment of the old Truman Brewery site that will include a datacentre and 44 homes, in contrast to local council plans for 350 new dwellings—raising the question of whether politicians will soon have to choose between housing and datacentre expansion.

What to watch

New York became the first US state to impose a one-year pause on new "hyperscale" datacentres last month; the Republican governor of Texas last week ordered that new centres won't join the state's power grid until regulators have reviewed their use of water and energy. In the UK, high-ups at energy regulator Ofgem say 100 planned datacentres aim to operate their own dedicated gas turbines.