(Bloomberg) — When Google wanted to build a new $1.1 billion data center in the Luxembourg countryside, the government championed the investment and helped the company to acquire the land. Authorities in the Netherlands granted Meta Platforms Inc. permission for what promised to be an even bigger one, part of the country’s ambition to become Europe’s “digital hub.”
With a squeeze on energy supplies because of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the political metrics are now changing for the giant facilities. The two projects were paused after grassroots resistance from locals and environmental activists. But when the focus is on ensuring the lights stay on this winter, data computing and storage that can guzzle a small town’s worth of power are no longer as in vogue for some European governments.
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark have teamed up to propose stricter efficiency measures at a meeting of European Union energy ministers on June 27. The aim is to get all 27 member states to sign up to the same rules on big tech to protect the EU’s green energy targets. That means putting a tighter rein on the facilities that handle everything from social media posts to apps for businesses.
“If we don’t act on data centers, we are losing some of the potential to exit gas and help the energy transition,” said Claude Turmes, Luxembourg’s energy and spatial planning minister and a member of the Green Party.
Record prices are spurring EU countries to figure out how to consume less electricity. The dilemma is how to reconcile the bloc’s green agenda with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s priority of ensuring the EU leads the transition to a new digital world.
Data centers in the EU accounted for 2.7% of the bloc’s electricity demand already in 2018 and the continual digital transformation means more and more people spend their time browsing the internet, shopping online or streaming movies. Left unchecked, that could rise to 3.2% by 2030, the European Commission said — or consumption of almost 100 terrawatt hours. That’s roughly twice the power that Greece used in 2019.
The energy regulator in Ireland, home to one of the largest clusters of data centers, recently warned consumers could eventually face outages without a new policy on access to the power grid. It predicted data centers could account for 23% of Ireland’s electricity demand by 2030.
Tech giants running data centers in Europe say they already abide by their own high green standards. Meta said its hubs have achieved net-zero carbon emissions and are supported by 100% renewable energy. Microsoft Inc. is aiming to reduce the consumption of water, used for server cooling systems, in its operations by 95% by 2024.
The question is whether that’s the right way to deploy green resources in the current climate, said Julia Krauwer, a technology analyst at Dutch bank ABN Amro. “For a lot of individuals and politicians, the fact that we use energy from newly constructed wind parks for the benefit of hyper-scale data centers feels out of balance,” she said.
Read More: Europe’s Data Centers Will Gobble Up a Lot More Electricity
The push by policy makers to green up the tech industry comes as the EU debates its massive package unveiled last year to implement an ambitious objective to slash greenhouse gases by at least 55% this decade from 1990 levels.
The plan will affect every corner of the economy, introducing new goals to boost renewables and step up energy savings, requiring companies to lower their carbon footprint and forcing a shift to cleaner transport.
Then came President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February. In response, the EU announced it would phase out fossil fuels imported from Russia and proposed increasing the renewables and energy efficiency targets for 2030 even further.
Luxembourg’s Turmes and his allies aim to introduce more stringent reporting requirements for data centers, including on carbon emissions, the use of renewable energy and the effectiveness of power, cooling and water usage. The five countries also want to empower the commission to set minimum performance criteria.
There are currently no binding comprehensive EU-wide standards on energy efficiency at data centers, which are set to proliferate across the continent. The Netherlands, for example, already houses hyper-scale facilities for Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft and is facing applications for 20 to 25 new or expanded data centers.
Meta, the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, was planning its new investment in the Dutch town of Zeewolde, 55 kilometers (34 miles) east of Amsterdam. The company initially received a warm welcome from politicians in 2019.
Three years later, local party Leefbaar Zeewolde — or “Livable Zeewolde” in English — won a regional vote leading its campaign on opposition to the facility. Covering 166 hectares, the equivalent of roughly 230 football pitches, it would be the largest in Europe.
Just before the election, the Dutch government in February announced a nine-month block on permits for new data centers larger than 10 hectares and that require more than 70 megawatts of energy. Ministers, however, exempted the region of Zeewolde and the provinces where Google and Microsoft already host their hyperscale centers.
Meta’s center was to be “one of the most efficient in the world,” with nearly every watt entering the data center to be used to run the computing equipment, according to local authorities. Still, it was expected to use 1,380 gigawatt hours of energy, an amount comparable to twice the total consumption of Zeewolde, a town of about 23,000 people, the development plans showed.
That highlighted the scale of the challenge for Europe when energy is more scarce, said Guus Dix, assistant professor at the University of Twente and a climate activist for Extinction Rebellion who participated in the campaign against the Zeewolde data center. “We only have limited energy available, and we have other needs as well, like greening our houses and becoming less dependent on Russian oil and gas,” he said.
Meta announced in March it would halt plans for the data center as it prides itself on being “good neighbors” and stressed the importance of the project of being a “good fit” for the community.
In Luxembourg, Google agreed to acquire farmland in the commune of Bissen in 2017 before progress on its data center was delayed by opponents. Mouvement Ecologique lost its main legal challenge attempting to stop the land being reclassified as for industrial rather than agricultural use, according to Blanche Weber, president of the campaign group. But as of this year, no work has started.
A Google spokesperson said the site is ready, but the company has no further plans at the moment. The government wants the company to make a decision and says if Google chooses to go ahead, it will have to deploy the most energy-efficient technology.
But even if the biggest companies already use the latest innovations to reduce their environmental footprint, the shift towards greening the sector may not be happening fast enough across the board given the new focus on energy security, according to Merima Dzanic, chief operating officer of the Danish Data Center Industry, an association that promotes the industry in Denmark.
“Suddenly there’s a huge urgency because of the prices and because of the war that we’ve never really seen before,” she said. “At the end of the day, with the data center industry it is very much in the DNA to constantly focus on sustainability because it is in the businesses interest.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
