Data centres currently consume approximately 1.5% of the world’s total annual electricity, equating to about 415 terawatt-hours (TWh), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This consumption has increased by 12% over the last five years and is expected to more than double to around 945 TWh by 2030, primarily driven by the rapid expansion of energy-intensive computing associated with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

As a result, data centres have become focal points for concerns related to energy costs, environmental impact, and resource use. Governments globally are eager to attract AI infrastructure investments but face growing local opposition due to the substantial demands these facilities place on land, power, and water resources.

Large-scale data centres can occupy extensive areas; Meta’s Prometheus site in Ohio, the company’s first gigawatt-scale AI supercluster, reportedly occupies a footprint comparable to a significant portion of Manhattan. In regions with weaker property rights protections, such as India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh, some local populations, including farmers, have expressed grievances about being displaced or marginalized by such developments.

In terms of power consumption, leading AI data centres can use electricity equivalent to that of a sizeable city. The Prometheus facility consumes approximately 630 megawatts, comparable to the usage of around half a million American households. A 2025 analysis by Bloomberg News found that electricity prices could be up to 267% higher in U.S. areas with dense concentrations of data centres. Additionally, reliance on off-grid power generation—for example, SpaceXAI’s gas turbine operations at its Colossus data centre in Memphis—has provoked complaints about noise and emissions.

Cooling needs present another challenge as high-performance chips generate significant heat during operation. Water is the primary medium used for cooling, though the volume consumed by data centres accounts for a small share—approximately 0.3% of total water supply in the United States, per IEEE Spectrum. Nevertheless, many data centre projects have been planned in regions already experiencing water stress, exacerbating local tensions. These concerns have fueled protests, including calls for a national day of protest in the U.S. by the advocacy group Humans First.

Opposition is also manifest outside the U.S. Across Europe, environmental and procedural objections have led to legal actions against major data centre developments, such as a dispute in Spain’s Aragon region targeting Amazon’s expansion plans. In Japan, where space is limited, data centre projects are increasingly sited near or within residential neighborhoods, prompting local legal challenges—most notably in the Tokyo commuter town of Inzai, which already hosts multiple facilities.

In response to these challenges, governments and companies are exploring regulatory and technological solutions. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged forthcoming legislation aimed at requiring data centres to contribute more energy back to the grid than they consume and to minimize water usage. Meanwhile, the tech sector has become a significant driver of renewable energy adoption, accounting for roughly 40% of all corporate power purchase agreements for renewables signed in 2025. The industry is also supporting advances in nuclear and geothermal energy as alternatives to meet its growing demand sustainably.

Given their critical role in powering cloud services, social media, AI applications, and streaming platforms, data centres remain essential infrastructure. However, balancing this importance with environmental sustainability and local community concerns continues to be a pressing issue. The IEA suggests policymakers can mitigate some of these challenges by encouraging smarter grid integration and incentivizing data centres to operate with greater flexibility, which may help address affordability and resource strain moving forward.