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GOOGLE IRELAND LTD’S (GIL’s) planned new data centre for south Dublin will indirectly contribute 224,250 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum in the short term without any mitigation measures.
That is according to planning documents lodged with the GIL application which has cautioned that if the new data centre project does not progress, the company will struggle to meet the increasing demands for its ICT services to its customers here.
The scheme is the third phase of the Google Ireland data centre campus at Grange Castle Business Park and will involve the creation of 800 construction jobs and 50 jobs when operational.
The new 72,400m2 data storage facility data centre will involve the construction of eight data halls on a 50 acre greenfield/brownfield site.
A 78-page planning report by ARUP lodged with South Dublin Co Council states that the proposed development “will be powered through an existing connection as agreed with Eirgrid”.
On the Climate impact of the data centre, ARUP states that the indirect impact on climate arising from the data centre connection to the national grid will result in 224,250 tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2027 which is 0.44pc of Ireland’s CO2 emission projections for that year.
The report states that the duration of the effects on climate “is considered to be short-term, as, in accordance with CAP24, 80 per cent of the electricity grid will be renewable by 2030, thereby significantly reducing carbon emissions”.
In a bid to reduce the climate impact of the planned data centre and its Irish operations, ARUP state that GIL has signed a 14 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Power Capital Renewable Energy for 58 megawatts (MW) of new-to-the grid capacity from the Tullabeg Solar Farm through an existing grid connection.
The solar farm is currently under construction and ARUP states that “GIL’s current projections indicate that, once operational, this PPA will help its offices and data centres in Ireland to reach 60% carbon-free energy in 2025 when measured on an hourly basis”.
On the new data centre plan, the planning report states that “investment in the proposed development will ensure that GIL will be able to meet the increasing demand for ICT services in Ireland. Without this project progressing, GIL will struggle to provide services to customers”.
The planning report states that the proposed development on the GIL Campus complies with the ‘EE’ zoning objective for the Grange Castle Business Park – “to provide for enterprise and employment”.
The report states that the data centre building “is a single storey design to reduce the massing and height of the building.”.
The report states that Google Ireland now employs 9,000 and is one of Google Inc’s largest subsidiaries outside Ireland.
The planning report also points out that “GIL data centres are the engines behind the digital services that help people and businesses thrive and help keep the internet up and running around the clock”.
Google Ireland is aiming to commence construction in the final quarter of this year with a 27 month construction phase with a completion date in Q2 in 2027.
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Building these monstrosities everywhere while plans are afoot to seriously restrict ordinary people from travelling abroad for holidays.
@Dere: did any one else see it as a veiled threat to pull out when they said ‘if it doest get the go ahead they will struggle to meet the demands on the people in this country’. It’s time the greens pull on the big boy pants and tell then no. See what other European country will let the build it,
@Dere: There are no plans “afoot” to restrict people travelling abroad for holidays. You made that up just so you could get angry about it.
@Dere: Well, last year, we produced 8.8 billion litres of milk from 1.5 million dairy cows (94% exported). The herd increased 50% since 2014, after the EU milk quota ended. One litre of milk generates 1.1 kg of CO2, so that’s about 9.68 million tonnes CO2 per annum from dairy (16% of national emissions), and an increase of 3.2 million tonnes CO2 per annum since 2014 (+5% increase in national emission).
And Ireland’s dairy farms are not “cleaner” than other country’s dairy farms, see figure 5 in this paper:
Mazzetto, A.M., Falconer, S. and Ledgard, S., 2022. Mapping the carbon footprint of milk production from cattle: A systematic review. Journal of Dairy Science, 105(12), pp.9713-9725. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222005859
So this data centre is equivalent to 37,500 dairy cows (2.5% of the herd), and 0.44% of national emissions.
This focus on Data Centres is propaganda from Farmers, who are trying to misdirect attention away from the massive increase in emissions from the Dairy sector, that is equivalent to building 14 giant Google Data Centres.
@Jason Memail: Aviation carbon taxes are planned. The design of carbon taxes are to restrict people from traveling: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40262042.html
@Laois Weather: as well as blockchain central bank digital currencies launching this year so stopping people travelling incrementally will be quite easy.
@David Jordan: and you Google’s that information David to find that out yea?
Farmers and dairy is one thing, but data centres are not feeding people across the world.
@Laois Weather: The article you posted, from 2021, didn’t mention carbon taxes. You’re probably looking for this document:
Talks about adding a fee of €5 – €32 per departure and may be €100 per tonne on aviation fuel by 2030 (it takes 3 tonnes of fuel per person to fly to New Zealand, so an extra €300 per round the world flight. So €20 to €30 extra to Spain).
https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/1c01c-aviation-taxation-in-ireland-report-and-key-findings/
@David Jordan: I notice you’re not as active on the Journal these days as you were during Covid when you were berating people on a daily basis telling them to “follow the science.” Back then, you tried to batter those who dared question you into submission with a barrage of cut and paste science stuff from Google! It now turns out an awful lot of what you posted about Covid has since been proven to be wrong. Seems like nothing’s changed in terms of your approach since then, really…
@Laois Weather: discourage, not restrict
@David Jordan: Thank you for the calculations and putting the data centre project in the larger context. I’m not sure the farmer community is so finely tuned as to home in on other carbon generators like you say. Yes they are organised and loud at defending their patch. Its simply that us modern little humans have become so cosy and comfortable in our carbon generating lives, nobody wants to step away from their carbon “comforts”. It’s much easier to point the finger at others.
@William Tallon: agreed…so if he’s not learned any lessons then what have we learned about David? One thing is for sure…he does not like cows
We are just becoming a dumping ground for the world’s CO2 .. As Microsoft is forcing everyone to go to the cloud. Business servers around Europe are closing down, meaning less CO2 for them, and its being dumped on us
@Jimmy Donovan: But you don’t have to go on the cloud, it’s a choice of convenience for most.
@Jimmy Donovan: let thy who has not used the Internet cast the first stone
Let’s put things in perspective, irish cement I think produces around 10% of Irelands emissions…and not one word said about it
@David Hynes: Lets put things into perspective we need Irish cement to build homes, hospitals, shops, roads, footpaths etc for Irish people. Imagine importing cement from other countries that would certainly be better for the environment wouldn’t it?. Where as we don’t actually need American companies data centers. They don’t need to be here they literally can be built anywhere else on the planet and have the same effectiveness. So let them build them in the US. See the difference?.
@David Hynes: don’t wanna go messing with Irish cement, no rules apply. https://www.irishevs.com/cement-and-the-climate-crisis
@Ger Whelan: No point moaning about data centres when every single one of us produces data… Where do you think all our messages, videos, photos etc etc are stored. Facebook, TicToc, X, Microsoft and all the other platforms produce nothing.. They only store OUR STUFF!!! Doesn’t make any odds where dáta centres are located but they have to be as efficient as possible. Moaning about data centres is. a bit bonkers while all the main sectors, transport, industry, farming are doing most of the harm. Just another diversionary red herring IMO.
@Ger Whelan:
That makes me laugh. Irish Cement Ltd imported cement from then-communist Poland to Ireland to break the 1970s strike. Only the Unionist ports of Kilkeel and Ardglass allowed the cement to be unloaded, even though Belfast dockers refused to.
https://libcom.org/library/great-irish-cement-strike-1970-fe-3-c-cement
At the end of the decade, strikes undermined jobs that once supplied pensions to widows and a community spirit. Then, the company shifted focus to their shareholders and subcontractors who could hire and fire at will, which were brought in to supply work that once provided stable employment to communities.
A cold company.
@Gerry Keogh: The power isnt needed to store the data (does a USB/Memory Card have a plug?) – the power is needed to process & mine the data & ultimately to create AI.
@Gerry Keogh: well, I’m all up for community owned datacenters, given their so called social benefit. Do you think Google would like this idea?
Ireland is being used by these companies to store all their European Data & outside initial construction, they provide very few jobs. Nobody telling the truth around how much per kwh they are being charged, no investigative Journalism left in Ireland to expose this. No comment from the new Green leader or Ryan on how much of the National Grid these companies are using, Energy created by fossil fuels. The Green Party are silent on the Carbon Emissions of Data Centres as there are some of their members involved in these companies. Farmers bad, Data Centres, Cement Plants & Aviation good, in the eyes of the hypocritical Green Party, now led by a man who has brought Ireland to the brink.
Solar energy – so, it won’t operate after dark?
@Thomas Sheridan: Well, one idea is to use Data Centre’s UPS lithium-ion battery banks to store megawatts of electrical energy and return it to the grid when there’s no sun or wind. It’s called grid interactive UPS battery storage. A 5.5MWh system supplying, 2.75MW of power, was opened in Belgium in 2022 i.e. it can supply 2.75 megawatts for nearly 2 hours. They are using them instead of diesel back up. If this was scaled up and most data centres used them, it would be a great way to store energy that can be sold back to the grid when there’s a lack of renewables.
@Thomas Sheridan: My home is running solely on solar energy for the majority of the year. Excess energy is stored in batteries and we use that after dark. We still have a mains electrical connection which we need to use in the winter months when there is less daylight. I would imagine the same thing would happen here just on a much grander scale.
@jak: I plug in all said appliances and turn them on when needed. Just like you do in your home. But hey if you believe it’s “con job” that my home is powered by solar the majority of the year work away lad. I’m not wasting my fingers trying to convince you otherwise. Clearly you know my home better than me.
Where is this CO2 coming from? Surely these data centers use the same electricity as an Electric vehicles we are all being pressured into using these days to save the planet..
If EV use is zero emission, then by proxy so is a data center!
Just another contradiction i’m sure to justify another tax..
Googles emissions have increased by 50% in 5 years !!.
But that’s ok as people seem to have no problem with that, no problem with the data being collected on people, being stored in data centres, multiplied numerous times when processed and shared with other entities, for the sole purpose of generating ads to sell stuff to people they don’t need .
@Michale Kane: 100%.
People should be fine with such things as plastic and other types of pollution for cleaner oceans, rivers, air, and countryside, and the environmental groups should be protecting society from the mind-numbingly silly conclusions of human weather control.
Ireland has a maritime climate as one of many throughout the planet depending on proximity to the oceans, whether in the middle of the continents, near the equator or North/South Poles. People appreciate this just as they do different topics within geology and biology.
Build all the data centres, kill all the cows, and remove all the cars, and Ireland will still have a maritime climate.
Jesus wept….even Taylor swift doesn’t match that…
@David Cotter: Well, last year, we produced 8.8 billion litres of milk from 1.5 million dairy cows. One litre of milk generates 1 kg of CO2 (about 20% less than the word’s average, as our dairy cows are mainly grass fed), so that’s about 8.8 million tonnes CO2 per annum.
So this data centre is equivalent to 37,500 dairy cows (2.5% of the herd).
@David Cotter:
Ignorant people do not know they are asleep ro a subculture and live life as an open grave, while others do their best to be kind, creative and productive.
The power of Spirit/Inspiration wakes those who have fallen victim to those periods when life feels like death and nothing, and nobody can change that condition. It is a source of dismay for those surrounding them, and that is when Jesus, as a human being, knew that sorrow, and so do many here who have experienced it.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/11
I do not mind clowns misusing that phrase without context, but such is a crude and cruel society. Some people wake and discover genuine climate as an inspirational area of research than a cistern of dire predictions.
For such, people can weep and feel dismay.
And the greens wont be happy until we close all our bogs,get rid of our cars anf feckin walk everywhere.yet these are being pushed through.
Ya but Eamon Ryan is gone now so no private jets flying all over the place so it kind of balances out :)
As a country , we’re married to the Mob. Can’t pick pick and chose , were either fully In or fully Out ,both come with consequences.
Deal with that Green Party. Fo#ls.
Let’s ignore the fact that 35.5 million barrels of oil are consumed a day world wide for our use.( Google it) But yeah, blame the cows anyway
Not a bother. Bezos is left wing. Also, if we give him any lip, he might pull out of that tax lark.
@Oh Mammy: pretty much nothing you said is factual
We laughed at Mr.Poots and his Creationism, yet here we have a whole lot of imbeciles, followers of The Planet Ireland Movement. They believe Ireland to be on a separate planet to Earth, to which we are joined by a couple of weak interconnerctors, much like Paddy over there is wired to the Moon. Get real. It matters not one iota to Climate Change whether the data centre is here or in Peru, but being silly about it, has the danger of hunting away that sector of our economy that pay 2/3 of all our taxes. Likewise they want us to get rid of half our cows, when there is already more Methane boiling out of the Permafrost than from several billion more dairy cows. Love the idea of running the data on solar power. Do we all go into hibernation for the Winter. ?
Correct solution. SMR -> Data centre. Then the waste heat to the pesticide free growing and the Fly larvae. The larvae to the farmed salmon and fowl, the present feeding of which really are an environmental disaster.
I guess us as Ireland will be responsible for it
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