BackDatacentres Consume 6% of UK and US Electricity, Sparking Community Resistance

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Guardian Business5/13/2026TechUnited Kingdom

Datacentres Consume 6% of UK and US Electricity, Sparking Community Resistance

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Datacentres now consume 6% of the UK's and US's electricity, with global usage rising 15% in two years, prompting community resistance and calls for transparency from tech companies amid energy shortages and environmental concerns.

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Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have developed an affordable, 3D-printed iron-based flow battery, offering its design free to the global research community. This innovation aims to standardize renewable energy storage research, accelerate net-zero goals, and overcome cost and geopolitical constraints of traditional vanadium batteries.

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Datacentres Consume 6% of UK and US Electricity, Sparking Community Resistance

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