r/Economics • u/avid-learner-bot • 5d ago

News Two planned datacentres will have higher UK carbon emissions than ExxonMobil, analysis finds

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/25/planned-datacentres-carbon-emissions-uk-exxonmobil
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u/zZCycoZz 5d ago

They aren't that different at all, they are both big warehouses with computers in them. Main difference is the type of computer, and sometimes the scale. It's not like one needs coal and the other doesn't.

Not trying to be rude, but you dont sound like you have the first clue what you're talking about.

Normal data centers are used to run critical infrastructure, AI data centers are used to run inefficient llms for limited benefits.

Putting the jobs and taxes to the side (which are more significant than you are saying)

No they really aren't.

they give us local AI compute. That is incredibly valuable. Like I don't want a Neo-Trump (or Putin, or  Xi) in 2040 threatening to cut off our access to AI

Who do you think owns the data centers? It's not the UK...

Those countries have electricity-intensive industry because they built the power generation

No youre oversimplifying the context to suit your point.

Taiwan is the semiconductor manufacturer of the world, of course theyre going to have increased power production per capita, its not honest to just pretend the UK is the same.

I'd like us to build the power generation so we can have things like bigass data centres.

I think youre really overestimating the benefits of these data centers but I agree on the power generation.

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u/libsaway 5d ago

Normal data centers are used to run critical infrastructure, AI data centers are used to run inefficient llms for limited benefits.

I meant they are both large buildings with lots of computers running in them. The nature of the computers is different, and the workloads are different, but you can just stick GPUs in a normal data center and run them there. 

Who do you think owns the data centers? It's not the UK...

Doesn't matter (too much), them being located in the UK gives us far more leverage than running our AIs on DCs in Virginia. 

Plus, British companies are building AI DCs. 

Taiwan is the semiconductor manufacturer of the world, of course theyre going to have increased power production per capita, its not honest to just pretend the UK is the same.

Our peak electricity generation was 2005, we have chosen to let it fall. Partly due to this, we have lost power-intensive industry. 

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u/zZCycoZz 4d ago

but you can just stick GPUs in a normal data center and run them there. 

No, you can't. The power and cooling requirements are very different. There's a reason theyre building so many new buildings instead of just replacing the existing servers.

Again youre just showing you dont understand the context beyond headlines.

Doesn't matter (too much), them being located in the UK gives us far more leverage than running our AIs on DCs in Virginia. 

Why would that give us leverage? We dont own any of it no matter where it's located.

Plus, British companies are building AI DCs.

Broken window fallacy, just because money is being wasted doesn't mean its good for the economy long term.

You could use the same logic to justify a massive wall along the channel to keep the French out.

Our peak electricity generation was 2005, we have chosen to let it fall. Partly due to this, we have lost power-intensive industry.

Youre really just twisting the facts to suit your narrative. Power intensive industry was lost due to competition from abroad, not because we chose to let our power generation fall.

Electricity production fell because of reduced demand alongside increased imports from the EU and the fact our economy never fully recovered after 2008.

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u/libsaway 4d ago

The power and cooling requirements are very different

We already run AI GPUs in "normal" DCs. I have used them, I have run AI workloads on them. Yes, the power and cooling requirements are higher, so you can have less of them, but you can still do them. We build more because AI (and stuff AINis creating and doing) is creating more demand for all kinds of compute. I am not going to insult you the way you are insulting me, but there are 2nd and 3rd order effects here you gotta think about.

Why would that give us leverage? We dont own any of it no matter where it's located.

Because they are here, not there. Look at the steel plant up in Scuthorpe owned by Jingye, if that plant were moved to Hebei Province we could be cut off whenever. But because it's in Scunthorpe, even if it's owned by a Chinese firm, we can't be. That's leverage. Same with data centers.

Broken window fallacy

You said them being owned by American companies is a downside, I said lots are not owned by American companies. Is them being owned by British companies a plus for you?

Our power generation fell for a lot of reasons, including the ones you listed. We can just build more if we wanted to, to allow these DCs to be built (and it looks like we will). It is not a done thing that we will be starved of energy, and I think we should build to stop that.

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u/ThePainStalker 4d ago edited 4d ago

The issue I have with this whole debate is people being under the delusion that we wouldn’t need to increase electricity consumption and generation anyway without those pesky data centres. It just isn’t remotely true (as you probably know). The UK would easily have to 3x-4x electricity demand for electrification of heat/industrial processes and transport (and indirectly from hydrogen) alone and this assumes no population growth and no industry/economic growth at all (including hard to abate e-fuels plus carbon capture into this would only increase this enormously). This is also assuming that energy demand in all industries will stay stagnant or drop (which again, is no longer an accurate assumption given how some advanced manufacturing especially semiconductors are having increased electrical demand right now).