Title page 1

Contents 3

Summary 4

Background 7

1. What are data centres? 10

1.1. Hyperscale data centres 10

1.2. Where are data centres in Great Britain? 12

1.3. Where are data centres being built in the UK? 13

2. How do data centres use energy and water? 15

2.1. Energy use 15

2.2. Water use 16

2.3. Data centre cooling 17

3. Measuring the environmental impact of data centres 21

3.1. Greenhouse gas emissions 21

3.2. Other common metrics 22

4. Sustainability of data centre components 26

4.1. Data centre components 26

4.2. End-of-life disposal 26

4.3. The circular economy 29

5. Operational sustainability 31

5.1. Demand for data centre services 31

5.2. How does data centre design affect their environment? 32

5.3. Local opposition 36

6. Regulation 38

References 40

Contributors 53

Tables 11

Table 1. Types of data centre 11

Table 2. Commercial data centre cooling methods 18

Table 3. Future cooling methods 20

Table 4. Greenhouse gas Protocol emission scopes 22

Table 5. Data centre metrics 23

Table 6. Components and their lifetime 28

Table 7. Circular economy strategies 29

Figures 12

Figure 1. Estimate of Great Britain's data centre capacity in 2024, defined as the maximum rated Information Technology (IT)... 12

Boxes 13

Box 1. What is digital sovereignty? 13

Box 2. Reducing noise 35