Exclusive: emissions from power-hungry warehouses at Lincolnshire facility expected to be 850,000 tonnes a year
A vast new datacentre to feed Britain’s rising demand for artificial intelligence could cause more greenhouse gas emissions than five international airports.
Elsham datacentre in Lincolnshire is on course to cost £10bn and its 15 power-hungry computer warehouses are projected to release five times the carbon dioxide of Birmingham airport, including from take-offs and landings.
A planning application for the facility nine miles east of Scunthorpe was submitted last month and a public consultation closes in three weeks.
Documents estimate the datacentre would consume 3.7bn kWh of energy, with annual CO2 emissions of 857,254 tonnes when running at full tilt. This is based on the current mix of energy sources powering the National Grid.
