‘Big energy users’: how will datacentres affect Australia’s power prices, water supply and emissions?
Australia hosts 260 operational data centres concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne, with energy consumption from AI facilities projected to exceed national electric vehicle fleet usage by 2030 and approach the annual consumption of four aluminium smelters by 2035. Cooling requirements drive demand for both electricity and potable water, with industry projections showing data centre expansion will slow power sector emissions reductions after 2035 despite closed-loop cooling alternatives. Tech companies are pressuring governments to accept ratepayer protections while maintaining access to grid infrastructure built for public benefit.
The Guardian • Mar 1
CORPORATE INFRASTRUCTURE ENVIRONMENT
Datacentre developers face calls to disclose effect on UK's net emissions
Campaign groups are demanding UK data center developers disclose environmental impacts and fund renewable energy construction proportional to their projects. The government maintains data centers will help meet environmental challenges while acknowledging to MPs that future demand from the sector "remains inherently uncertain." The initiative comes as the UK's target for a virtually carbon-free power grid by 2030 faces mounting pressure from electricity cost increases.
The Guardian • Mar 1
CORPORATE REGULATION AI
Google is building a bevy of renewable energy in Minnesota—including the world's largest battery system providing power for a whopping 100 hours
Google is developing a data center complex in Minnesota powered by 1.4 gigawatts of wind, 200 megawatts of solar, and Form Energy's 300-megawatt iron-air battery system capable of 100 hours of storage—enough to power 200,000 homes. The project relies on a new green tariff agreement allowing Google to self-finance its clean energy mix without passing costs to residents. Form Energy's multiday battery technology aims to solve renewable intermittency problems that have limited grid-scale adoption.
Fortune • Mar 1
CORPORATE NEOCORP INFRASTRUCTURE
Could a huge data centre revitalise Ayrshire - or ruin it?
A 540MW data center proposal near Kilmarnock has sparked debate over water consumption and community benefit. The facility would require millions of liters of water daily for cooling, potentially straining local resources while developers pledge community investments including walkways and water taxis.
BBC • Mar 1
CORPORATE INFRASTRUCTURE ENVIRONMENT
Your utility bills keep going up. Here's everyone you can blame—AI data centers included
Utilities are announcing hundreds of billions in infrastructure spending driven by data center demand, and ratepayers are absorbing the cost in monthly bill increases. Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris defended rate hikes while acknowledging affordability concerns, as the PJM Interconnection region—where data centers are heavily concentrated—sees the most severe impacts. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has called for selectivity in data center approvals, citing community, cost, and environmental concerns raised by constituents.
Fortune • Mar 1
CORPORATE INEQUALITY AI
China's Solar Power Generation Overtakes Wind for First Time
China's solar power generation exceeded wind output for the first time in 2025 as a manufacturing boom in cheap photovoltaic panels reshaped the nation's energy mix. The milestone marks a structural shift in the world's largest emitter's electricity grid, with solar capacity additions accelerating despite ongoing challenges with grid integration and storage. The transition carries global climate implications given China's position as both the largest energy consumer and the dominant manufacturer of clean energy equipment worldwide.
Bloomberg • Mar 1
CORPORATE GEOPOLITICS CLIMATE-TECH
Dirty water, death and decline: the inside story of a privatisation scandal
A Guardian investigation reveals UK water privatization has loaded companies with debt while infrastructure crumbles. Secret 2002 government reports predicted this outcome. UN special rapporteur Pedro Arrojo-Agudo criticizes the system, while Thames Water—serving 16 million customers—struggles with £20bn debts and private equity owners demand 15-year exemptions from environmental rules.
The Guardian • Mar 1
CORPORATE REGULATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Rising carbon dioxide levels now detected in human blood
Researchers have for the first time detected rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels within the human body, with a key blood marker approaching its healthy limit within decades if current trends continue. The findings are especially relevant for children and adolescents, who face the longest cumulative exposure to rising atmospheric CO₂ during their developmental years.
Phys.org • Feb 28
TECH ENVIRONMENT
How a million new satellites could turn night into day
SpaceX has proposed deploying up to one million satellites to create orbital data centers, while a separate startup seeks FCC approval to deploy reflective satellites that would beam sunlight to Earth at night. The Washington Post reports these proposals threaten to transform the night sky into a permanent artificial twilight, with satellites outnumbering visible stars and fundamentally altering humanity's relationship with the cosmos.
The Washington Post • Feb 28
CORPORATE NEOCORP INFRASTRUCTURE
Ocean geoengineering trial finds no evidence of harm to marine life
Researchers conducted a field trial in the Gulf of Maine, pumping 65,000 litres of sodium hydroxide into coastal waters to test ocean alkalinity enhancement. The trial removed up to 10 tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide without measurable harm to marine wildlife, plankton, or lobster larvae. The technique increases water alkalinity, allowing oceans to absorb more CO2 and converting it into bicarbonate ions expected to remain sequestered for tens of thousands of years.
New Scientist • Feb 28
CORPORATE CLIMATE-TECH ENVIRONMENT
Building the backbone for Europe's biodiversity monitoring
Researchers from University of Amsterdam and German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) have published a roadmap in Nature Reviews Biodiversity proposing a European Biodiversity Observation Network (BON) to unify fragmented national monitoring systems. The plan combines environmental DNA sampling, satellite remote sensing, and citizen science data through a proposed European Biodiversity Observation Coordination Centre (EBOCC). The initiative aims to standardize data workflows around Essential Biodiversity Variables to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and European Green Deal commitments.
Nature Reviews Biodiversity • Feb 23
SURVEILLANCE REGULATION TECH
Voters know what the next big issue is. They don't know how they feel about it.
New polling by POLITICO reveals data centers are emerging as a potent but undefined political issue ahead of 2026 elections, with Democrats seeing traction from candidates who campaigned on regulating data center energy consumption and water usage. Republican Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt noted data centers shifted from unknown to omnipresent in political discourse within months. The survey found only 25% of Americans believe data centers won't play a role in their local elections, while bipartisan momentum builds to accelerate permitting and energy infrastructure to support AI growth despite environmentalist warnings of conflict with net-zero goals.
POLITICO • Feb 23
CORPORATE REGULATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Honeywell Considers Walking Away From Johnson Matthey Catalyst Deal
Honeywell International is weighing abandonment of its $2.4 billion acquisition of Johnson Matthey's Catalyst Technologies business, agreed to in May 2025. The UK chemicals company had positioned the sale as central to restructuring efforts focused on clean air technologies and platinum group metals, while the deal represented Honeywell's push into automation and energy transition technologies.
Bloomberg • Feb 22
CORPORATE GEOPOLITICS FINANCE
Towns are saying no to AI data centers. One got sued over it.
Municipal resistance meets corporate litigation as towns attempting to ban AI infrastructure face legal retaliation. Local communities caught between environmental concerns and the unstoppable expansion of the machine empire.
The Washington Post • Oct 12
CORPORATE REGULATION AI
Southwest US faces flood threats from Priscilla, other storms
Intensifying storm systems threaten Southwest US infrastructure as climate instability accelerates beyond adaptation capacity
Axios • Oct 9
INFRASTRUCTURE CLIMATE-TECH ENVIRONMENT
X-ray scans reveal the hidden risks of cheap batteries
CT scans expose manufacturing defects in 8% of counterfeit lithium batteries, revealing infrastructure vulnerabilities from cost-cutting and quality degradation
The Verge • Sep 24
TECH INFRASTRUCTURE CYBERSECURITY
How the US got left behind in the global electric car race
America loses technological and industrial leadership in electric vehicle manufacturing to China and Europe through policy failures and corporate short-termism
BBC News • Oct 5
CORPORATE GEOPOLITICS INEQUALITY
AI Drives Battery Innovation at Microsoft, IBM
Corporate AI deployment accelerates battery technology research, concentrating energy infrastructure innovation in hands of tech giants
IEEE Spectrum • Oct 1
CORPORATE TECH AI