From Watts Up With That?
Essay by Eric Worrall
More Climate activists evolving into AI activists.
UK activists plan protests over climate, social impacts of AI data centres
By Simon Jessop
February 27, 2026 10:04 AM GMT+10 Updated February 27, 2026
- Coordinated protests across numerous sites
- ‘March Against The Machines’ to start at OpenAI office
- Ofgem said 140 new sites want to connect to the grid
LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Activists are set to take to British streets on Friday for two days of protests against the expansion of data centres to serve booming demand for artificial intelligence, and the impact of the facilities on communities and the environment.
…
“Big Tech’s unchecked construction of hyperscale AI data centres is putting the UK’s climate targets at risk,” said Oliver Hayes, Head of Campaigns at Global Action Plan, in a statement.
…The British energy regulator said data centres had signalled they wanted to plug into the grid and could require 50 gigawatts of power. By comparison, it said peak British electricity demand on February 11 was 45 GW.
I don’t understand why the activists are so upset. I mean, given their claims that renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel or nuclear, surely this is an opportunity to realise that vision of an affordable green future, by building enough cheap renewables and battery backup to more than double Britain’s peak February generation capacity.
Do I need a /sarc tag?
I predicted AI would replace the climate scare in 2017; I’m surprised it took so long.
I’ve changed my mind a little on the British response, I now expect Britain to cave to data center demands, right after Starmer orders Special Branch to lock Milliband in a closet.
Britain has no choice but to cave to AI power demands, if they want to keep London’s world class financial industry, which will likely be the biggest customers of the new AI infrastructure.
As I’ve said before, the AI scare is just as fake as the climate scare. I mean all of us AI enthusiasts secretly want to take over the world, but my Terminator T0.001 needs more development to forge it into an instrument of global domination.
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