Arabic version: مراكز البيانات في سلاو تثير تساؤلات بشأن المياه والطاقة والإسكان
According to The Guardian, Slough’s Trading Estate has become a major datacentre hub as demand for computing power, including artificial intelligence, grows. The area has as many as 40 datacentres, making it the densest cluster in western Europe, with more facilities planned.
The town’s position is linked to the estate’s history as a partly deregulated “simplified planning zone”, its proximity to London and its location above cables connecting Britain to the US and Ireland. Companies including Equinix, Digital Realty and Iron Mountain own and maintain facilities serving customers such as Amazon, Google, Oracle and Microsoft.
Residents in nearby Britwell told the newspaper they had noticed noise and, in one case, what they felt was increased heat. Early research, including a Cambridge University researchers’ preprint published earlier this year, suggests datacentres can create a “heat island” effect, raising nearby temperatures by an average of 2C and by as much as 9C. The trading estate’s corporate owners said last month that they had not seen conclusive evidence that datacentre operations were increasing local temperatures.
The article also highlights concerns over resources. Water UK said government water forecasts “explicitly exclude” datacentres, which can use up to 5m gallons a day, equivalent to the consumption of up to 50,000 people. Datacentres also require substantial electricity, while Ofgem officials say 100 planned UK centres aim to use dedicated gas turbines.
Whitehall’s stated aim is to triple the UK’s number of datacentres by 2030, with the facilities now designated critical national infrastructure. A London assembly report in December found that datacentres’ electricity requirements had contributed to stalled housebuilding in the capital. The Guardian cited a recently approved east London redevelopment including a datacentre, offices and 44 homes, compared with local council-backed plans focused on 350 new dwellings.
