Data centres. The weight of the cloud.
Britain is holding up new homes because the electricity has been promised to buildings full of computers. The cloud is a shed on your grid.
THE GIST ON DATA CENTRES: "The Weight of the Cloud"
Why have new homes stopped being approved?
Around Britain, they've stopped approving new homes. Not because of nimbies or costs or planning, but because the electricity those homes need has been promised to buildings full of computers. Nobody voted for it, we've demanded it.
The cloud isn't in the sky. It's a shed on your grid, pulling power like a city that never sleeps.
How much power does a data centre take?
There's one proposed in East London that would pull as much electricity as a million homes.
Electricity can't really be stored effectively, and it can't travel far without leaking away. So there isn't one big national pool, it's local, and there's only so much arriving at your corner of the country.
Who gets the power first?
For 100 years that wasn't a problem. But almost overnight, we have buildings that drink as much as a whole town. And energy is first come, first served. When a data centre books a region's spare capacity, it's gone. The homes that would have used it can't be built because there's nothing left.
That is the M4 corridor right now.
What has changed?
For your whole life, the stuff underneath everything, the grid, the water, the roads, grew to fit whatever you plugged in. It felt infinite, like air, because it always stretched. It's been under strain for years, and this is the moment it stopped stretching.
The map is being drawn right now, and no one is looking at it. Every region a data centre locks up is a place where homes don't get built, factories don't expand and towns can't get bigger. Probably for good, because the power is spoken for. Whoever booked early gets a future, and everyone behind them in the queue just gets to watch it go somewhere else.
Who should get scarce power first?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Why can't some new homes be built?
The electricity they would need has been promised to data centres, and energy is first come, first served.
How much power would the East London data centre use?
As much electricity as a million homes.
Why is power a local problem?
Electricity can't be stored effectively or travel far without leaking away, so there is no national pool, only what arrives at your corner of the country.
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