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Datacentres drive emissions of Microsoft, Amazon and Google to half those of France

ai, AI (Artificial Intelligence), Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Climate crisis, datacenters, Energy, Environment, Google, Greenhouse gas emissions, Microsoft, Technology, US news

All three companies say they still aim to achieve net zero carbon output despite construction boomMicrosoft, Amazon and Google’s collective carbon emissions have increased by nearly a fifth in the past year, driven largely by datacentre construction.In the financial year ending March 2026, the three tech companies emitted 119m mTCO₂e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide […]

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‘A lot of red flags’: plans for New Zealand’s first datacentre spark concern as locals demand greater transparency

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Plans to build a NZ$3.5bn datacentre in Makarewa in the country’s south has drawn concern about electricity and water use, and potential noise pollutionPeople living near the site of New Zealand’s first planned AI datacentre are calling for more transparency about the project, especially about how the centre’s huge electricity and water use and potential

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The fight against AI data centers is important – but it’s just a starting point | Bruce Schneier and Nathan E Sanders

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AI companies want to capture the value created by entire industries. That concentration of wealth and power is society’s greatest riskOpposition to AI datacenters has emerged as a primary theme in US politics, one that – surprisingly – doesn’t fall along party lines. We applaud people coming together for constructive debate on any issue, and

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Low-e windows keep homes cool … but may set neighbours’ property on fire

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Low-emissivity windows also keep houses warm in winter, but use on bowed glass can have magnifying-glass effectLow-emissivity or low-E window glass is a useful green technology for keeping buildings warm in winter and cool in summer … but a rare side-effect can set the neighbours’ property on fire.The glass is coated with a thin layer

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Datacentres are a ticking time bomb. We must make sure AI’s benefits outweigh the costs | Nicki Hutley

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They suck up energy and water, and blast out heat. Just who is better off from all this investment – aside from tech bros?The two great existential threats of our time – the climate crisis and AI – come hurtling together in the explosion of datacentres across Australia and around the world.You can hardly avoid

Datacentres are a ticking time bomb. We must make sure AI’s benefits outweigh the costs | Nicki Hutley Read More »

Wyoming tightens wastewater rules after Meta datacenter contractor flushed contaminated water

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Meta said it was working with officials to be a “good neighbor” and that drinking water was not affectedOfficials in Wyoming said a contractor for Mark Zuckerberg’s tech company, Meta, flushed bacteria-contaminated water into public sewers during construction of a controversial new AI datacenter.The incident prompted water authorities in Cheyenne to implement strict safety regulations

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Big tech’s lofty climate goals wrecked by energy-hungry AI

ai, AI (Artificial Intelligence), Artificial Intelligence, Climate crisis, Computing, Environment, Technology

Net-zero pledges of Google and Amazon slip out of reach, and struggling Meta makes frantic movesHello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, the Guardian’s US tech editor, writing to you after a rodeo in rural Texas, where I celebrated Independence Day. Today in tech, we’re discussing how tech giants’ investments in AI

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Scotland could freeze datacentre projects in challenge to UK’s AI strategy

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Scottish government to consider SNP national council motion for moratorium on all new datacentresThe Scottish government is about to consider a sweeping moratorium on building new datacentres, putting a key plank of the UK’s AI strategy at risk.Last Sunday the Scottish National party (SNP)’s national council passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in

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Into the spider’s lair: how an Australian film-maker made an impossible documentary with AI

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Jodie Heenan says her award-winning short film Guardians of the Burrow ‘looks and feels’ real Scene: a dimly lit underground burrow. A giant Amazonian tarantula and a tiny dotted humming frog share the space, an unlikely duo captured in extraordinary detail.Except, they haven’t been. Guardians of the Burrow, a short “wildlife documentary” by the Australian

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‘It’s smoke and mirrors’: hope turns to fear in Scottish village chosen for AI datacentre

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Suspicions grow in Lanarkshire that local people have been misled on supposed benefits of the huge developmentRevealed: landmark Scottish AI project has no prospect of meeting renewables promiseWhat are Britain’s AI growth zones and are the plans feasible or ‘complete bunk’?The promise was that a Scottish community would be transformed by massive investment and empowered

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