There is a ‘gold rush’ reflected in the chaos of the rollout of large and mega-data centres.
We are watching governments scramble to juggle the capture of potential new investment against community and environmental concerns and worries about loss of jobs.
The electricity industry is scrambling as data centres choose sites where the electricity grid was never designed for such large demand. Data centre businesses respond by proposing to buy lots of diesel and gas generators.
Horror stories about impacts of astounding levels of electricity and water use, and social impacts, abound. Some may be correct. But the eventual outcome will be very different from what many fear or predict.
The International Energy Agency’s major 2025 report reminds us that a rapid rate of innovation and efficiency improvement is occurring and Artificial Intelligence, used well, can drive significant multiple benefits for economic productivity, energy, environment, business and society.
