Latest news with #DarraghAdelaide
Irish Post
17 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Post
The cost of Ireland's data centre boom
DATA centres now use more energy than all the urban homes in the country combined. Ireland is grappling with an energy problem as businesses like Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft grow to meet the increasing demands of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The International Energy Agency reported that 21% of Ireland's electricity consumption in 2023 came from data centres. The proportion was so great that Ireland's grid operator decided to stop new data centre connections in the Dublin area until 2028 due to concerns about blackouts. The majority of the data centres are now grouped together in the outer Dublin area to provide quick access to underwater cables and financial networks. Opposition to new centres has been fuelled in part by local activists, such as Darragh Adelaide. Adelaide, who was just elected to the South Dublin County Council, spearheaded an effective campaign opposing a proposal for a Google data centre, claiming it would use a lot of energy and provide few local benefits. He said in a statement to AP, "It was only going to employ about 50 people." "The local community and Ireland as a whole would have suffered greatly as a result." In the meantime, people in the area must contend with some of Europe's highest electricity costs. Concerns about the environment are also growing; Ireland's EPA has issued a warning regarding nitrogen oxide pollution from diesel generators, which are frequently used as backup power in data centres. In 2021, the government reacted by advising developers to locate outside of Dublin and produce their own renewable energy. Even centres with renewable contracts, such as the ones constructed by the US company Digital Realty, are still offline and unable to connect to the grid, which is already overloaded. As their next frontier, developers are now focusing on areas like County Offaly, which was once known for its industrial peat extraction. Once a key player in Ireland's peat industry, the state-owned Bord na Móna is shifting its focus to renewable energy and working with Amazon on a new data centre near the village of Rhode. KK Kenny, who is against a proposed wind farm close to the historic Lemanaghan monastic site, voiced his opposition online and said, "We can't sustain them." Builder Gerard Whelan is among those who embrace the possible economic knock-on effect: "Because I build houses, I'll get a job. It has a cascading effect.' IT firms contend that Ireland's transition to renewable energy is actually helped by data centres. With the help of a Microsoft contract, the Norwegian company Statkraft is constructing nine wind turbines on former bogland. "In Ireland, demand is increasing," Kevin O'Donovan, director of Statkraft Ireland, said in a recent statement on their website, "that's accelerating the renewables rollout." According to departing Green Party minister Ossian Smyth, Ireland's experience teaches that other nations shouldn't view data centres as inevitable trade-offs for investment. He advised against viewing them as a necessary evil. "Verify that the benefits extend beyond taxes." Ireland's data centres come at a cost to the community, with the highest net electricity prices in the EU, but in the current tech boom, demand is only increasing. Google's data centre on the outskirts of Dublin (Image © Google / Google Data Centers media kit)
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Massive new centers consume unbelievable share of country's electricity, sparking concerns: 'It's kind of an outrageous number'
Generative AI, like the famous ChatGPT, takes a massive amount of computing power to run. That means a lot of energy being drawn from the grid wherever the data center is located. Many of these data centers are located in Ireland — and they're taking an unbelievable share of the country's electricity, AP News reported. Data centers for major tech companies — including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok — are found in Dublin and across the country of Ireland. They consume more power than all of the urban homes in the country combined, a full 21% of the country's electricity in 2023. Out of the countries that have reported their energy burdens for computing to the International Energy Agency, Ireland's burden is the highest. This power has to come from somewhere, and officials are worried the demand could outpace the supply. Ireland is a "microcosm of what many countries could be facing over the next decade, particularly with the growth of AI," energy researcher Paul Deane from the University College Cork told AP News. The high demand for energy is having an impact on residents. "It's kind of an outrageous number of data centers," said Dublin activist Darragh Adelaide, per AP News. "People have started to make the connection between the amount of electricity they're using and electricity prices going up." And higher bills aren't the only price Ireland is paying. Much of its energy supply comes from dirty fuel sources like oil and coal. Burning these fuels pollutes the air, which is unhealthy for residents and can lead to premature deaths. Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency has cited nitrogen oxide pollution from data centers' gas or diesel turbines as a particular concern in Dublin. Dirty energy also releases heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, contributing to the overheating of the planet. Do you think you're overpaying for electricity? Yes No Only in certain months I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Dublin is so vulnerable to rolling blackouts at this point that the grid operator has banned new data centers in the area until at least 2028, per AP News. The government has also encouraged new data centers to choose sites away from the city and find ways to generate their own power. Ireland is also hard at work on supplying more clean energy from wind farms and other sources. Meanwhile, scientists are looking for ways to reduce the power needed by AI data centers. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
