An immediate moratorium on new data centre connections must be put in place until a more robust government policy and regulatory system is adopted to address the sector’s unsustainable growth, according to Friends of the Earth.
The Central Statistics Office revealed this week that data centres account for more than 20 per cent of Ireland’s total electricity use, compared to 18 per cent for all urban homes and 10 per cent for rural households.
The environmental group argued on Friday that data centres should be required to invest in substantive on-site renewables and storage to reduce their dependence on the national grid.
“Data centres should commit to phasing out fossil fuels, including fossil gas and diesel used on their sites, and support development of a zero-carbon electricity system led by renewable energy,” it added.
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The Government should end speculative data centre applications that inflate expected energy use and strain resources, it said, while it should mandate annual disclosure of data centre emissions and future projections.
[ Data centres now account for 21% of all electricity consumptionOpens in new window ]
Ireland has 82 operational data centres, with 14 more under construction and planning approval for an additional 40 – with 65 per cent growth predicted for the sector in coming years.
“This trend poses a severe threat to Ireland’s energy security and climate commitments,” said Friends of the Earth head of policy Jerry MacEvilly.
“Despite Minister [for Energy] Eamon Ryan’s assertion that data centres must operate within climate limits, existing policies fail to ensure this. Ireland is an outlier, with data centres projected to consume as much as 30 per cent of total electricity by 2030,” he added.
He noted that the argument is pushed that data centres are a necessary evil. “But who is really benefiting from their expansion? Why is this energy-guzzling industry continuing to expand in Ireland at a time when we know that Ireland needs to rapidly reduce energy demand, both on security and climate grounds?” he asked.
David Rossiter, fossil-free campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said a recent Ireland Thinks poll showed 51 per cent of those surveyed respondents support pausing data centre development.
[ An Bord Pleanála refuses to hold oral hearing on Amazon data centres planOpens in new window ]
Experts from University College Cork had also emphasised Ireland’s electricity system was among the most polluting in Europe, primarily due to reliance on fossil gas, he said. “The addition of high-demand data centres exacerbates this issue. Contrary to the belief that data centres drive economic growth, evidence does not back up the contention that they provide economic benefits.”
The unsustainable rise of data centres puts Ireland’s climate goals at risk “and calls into question who our energy systems are for”, said the society’s network development co-ordinator, Rosi Leonard.
“We need to prioritise taking expensive and unhealthy fossil fuels out of our homes and communities. Not only are data centres gobbling vast amounts of renewables for private profit, but we should also be deeply concerned about their prolific water consumption,” she added.
She cited the case of Meta’s data centre in Clonee, Co Meath, which uses more water than the whole of Mullingar, and more than any other Meta data centre in the world.
“Allowing Ireland to be used for unfettered data centre expansion puts a just transition for communities at risk and also risks creating an unjust scenario where the rest of us face expensive fossil fuel bills while private industry enjoys clean energy. We need to shout stop,” Ms Leonard added.
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