Post by @mhalila@mastodontti.fi

"AI datacentres use a massive amount of electricity to power servers and cooling equipment, and to run facility systems. There are currently 315 datacentres in the queue to connect to the UK’s electricity grid, representing 73GW of demand. This is almost double the peak winter energy demand for the entire UK.

Because of the long wait to connect to the grid, the Wapseys Wood and Quest Park datacentres are seeking to build their own on-site gas-fired power stations." https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/25/planned-datacentres-carbon-emissions-uk-exxonmobil

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Michael Halila 🏳️‍⚧️

@mhalila@mastodontti.fi yesterday

There is a very simple choice here. Either all our damn countries build so many data centers that we multiply our energy consumption, which means fossil fuel use increases, or we have climate goals.

It is worse than impossible, it is lunacy to imagine we can meet these gigantic energy demands without continuing the wholesale destruction of the planet.

It's either these datacenters, or a future for humanity.

Michael Halila 🏳️‍⚧️

@mhalila@mastodontti.fi yesterday

Fundamentally, the datacenter boom shows why capitalism is the problem we need to solve.

Capitalism can't go on without constant economic growth, and as soon as someone promises capitalist governments economic growth, everything else flies out of the window.

Tens of thousands of deaths in the heatwaves? Oh how sad, someone should do something about that, but we've just greenlit huge batteries of gas-powered generators. Because growth.