Why are data centre developments facing local protests and what are the environmental impacts?

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1. 1

   Hundreds protest over data centre plans

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 10, 2026Checked Oct 11, 2026

   “Placard-waving opponents highlight concerns about a data centre development on the local landscape.”

2. 2

   Energy, Exergy, Economic, Environment Analysis and Multiobjective Optimization of the Organic Rankine Cycle Integrating an Absorption Heat Transformer Driven by Geothermal Energy for Data Center Power Supply and Waste Heat Recovery.

   ACS omega (Chen et al.)Published Aug 25, 2026Checked Oct 11, 2026

   “Exergy analysis and comprehensive performance assessment are conducted to identify the irreversibility and quantitatively assess the advantage of the proposed system in economic and environmental aspects. The results indicate that the proposed system can achieve a net power output of 1690.44 kW and an energy recovery efficiency of 56.90% under optimal conditions, with an annual cost of 886.67 kUSD and lifecycle GHG emissions of 1083.31 ton CO2‑eq. Compared with conventional systems without waste heat recovery, the proposed configuration reduces the annual cost and GHG emissions by 11.11% and 37.69%, respectively, while achieving significant improvements over grid-powered scenarios. Exergy analysis reveals that, to balance thermodynamic, economic, and environmental performance, the system sacrifices part of its thermodynamic efficiency, which leads to increased thermal mismatches during heat transfer, and the primary irreversibility is contributed by the ORC evaporator and condenser, accounting for over 65% of total exergy destruction.”

3. 3

   Data center (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Oct 8, 2026Checked Oct 11, 2026

   “A data center is a physical room, building, or facility for storing, managing, and disseminating data and information, including computer systems and associated components, housing IT infrastructure, and training artificial intelligence. The United States' act of Congress, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, defines a data center as "any facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to process, store, and transmit digital information." This includes "a free-standing structure" or "a facility within a larger structure, that uses environmental control equipment to maintain the proper conditions for the operation of electronic equipment." According to IBM, data centers date back to the 1940s, with the U.S. military's Electrical Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) as an early example. Data centers have different models depending on their workloads.”

4. 4

   Data centre industry in India (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Oct 7, 2026Checked Oct 11, 2026

   “India has a growing data centre industry. Data centres are used for national security, internet infrastructure, and economic output. As of 2024, India's data centre capacity is at 950 MW, which is expected to be 1800 MW by 2026. The data centre industry is valued at US$1.2 billion in 2021, a 216% growth from $385 million in 2014. The number of data centres in India is 138, as of March 2022. India ranks 13th globally in terms of highest number of data centres. As of 2021, Indian data centres occupy over 8 million sq ft area. 60% of total data centres are in Navi Mumbai, Chennai,Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Hyderabad. India's data centre capacity is projected to experience significant growth, doubling from 0.9 GW in 2023 to approximately 2 GW by 2026. This expansion is driven by the increasing digitisation and data localisation trends within the country. Despite generating 20% of the global data, India currently holds only a 3% share of global data centre capacity, highlighting substantial under-penetration in this sector. The estimated capital expenditure required for this capacity addition is around Rs 50,000 crore over the next three years.”