It is possible to set conditions which would allow (some) data centres without undermining climate action.
But the government has decided that data centres are good, and climate is not important, so they won't impose those conditions.
Ray Cunningham
Reflections on the Joint Committee on AI and my new working paper that shows how data centres could consume 55% of Ireland's electricity by 2040 and cause gas demand to rise.
hannahdaly.ie/2026-06-11-J...
Today, I'll brief the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence on a new working paper which quantifies the potential energy and emissions from data centres into the future under the new Large Energy User Connection Policy, should 5.8 GW of new capacity (estimated through a market survey) emerge.
Hannah Daly
Data centre electricity demand could exceed power usage of entire country