“Building more data centres to satisfy the AI bubble makes an energy transition impossible” says PBP EU candidate
“So much work needs to be done to kick our fossil fuel habit... but instead the Irish government continues to roll out the red carpet for the tech industry who aren’t building technologies that actually improve our lives but ones that allow for more entrenched inequality”
An Bord Pleanala has approved the construction of a data centre in Ennis following an appeal by An Taisce, Futureproof Clare and others against its construction.
Criticising the granting of this planning permission, People Before Profit candidate for Ireland South, Cian Prendivile said, “Ennis is in a dip, any time the temperature drops the town is shrouded in a smokey fog and the science is clear on the impact this has on people’s health. The gas plant they want to build to power this data centre will burn as much in a year as every home in the town will in ten.
“A 2021 report by the European Environmental Agency estimated that, in Ireland, 1,300 people die prematurely as a result of poor air quality.
“We have just had the wettest March on record. Fields are flooded and farmers have had to keep cattle in sheds fed on fodder for longer. Globally this March has also been the warmest on record.
“This is unprecedented climate change and it will have major impacts on how we live, but somehow this data centre which will produce 650 thousand tonnes of CO2 every year was given permission. It’s reckless and it puts all of our lives and livelihoods at risk.”
According to the International Energy agency “almost one-third of electricity demand in Ireland is expected to come from data centres by 2026” this is more than the electricity demand for all homes. The plan for the data centre in Ennis will increase demand on the electricity grid but is part of a new shift where gas will be used onsite for electricity production. This one site is expected to burn as much gas as three months worth of all domestic consumption, significantly increasing national gas consumption.
Mr. Prendiville added, “building more data centres to satisfy the AI bubble makes an energy transition impossible. The data centre in Ennis should never have gotten permission to be built. They pulled out every greenwashing tactic in the book from vertical farms to district heating even though neither will be economically viable but will allow the company to claim tax breaks to build the data centre.
“So much work needs to be done to kick our fossil fuel habit from building solar panels and wind turbines to heat pumps and insulation but instead the Irish government continues to roll out the red carpet for the tech industry who aren’t building technologies that actually improve our lives but ones that allow for more entrenched inequality and increased profits for those at the top all while making workers lives and the products we consume worse.”
