Europe's largest datacentre hub leaves town sweltering
Slough, home to Europe's largest datacentre hub, is struggling with excessive heat generated by the facilities. The datacentres consume vast amounts of electricity and produce significant waste heat, raising local temperatures and straining infrastructure. Residents describe the town as feeling like an unintended experiment in urban heat management.
Background
- Slough, a town west of London, has become Europe's largest concentration of data centres — massive warehouses filled with computer servers that power cloud computing, AI, and streaming services.
- Data centres generate enormous amounts of heat and require constant cooling, meaning they consume huge quantities of electricity and water. Their cooling systems expel hot air into the surroundings.
- Residents report the town feels noticeably hotter than nearby areas, raising concerns about "urban heat island" effects and local temperature increases caused by these facilities.
- The UK has seen a boom in data centre construction driven by demand from AI and big tech companies (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.), but planning rules and environmental regulations have struggled to keep pace.
- This story highlights a growing tension: the push for digital infrastructure vs. its local environmental costs — heat pollution, energy strain, and water use — that nearby communities bear directly.