In the US, the politicization of data center development is underway, driven by its impact on power prices. As state governments seek ways to protect consumers, operators will need to engage in the policy debate.
Peter Judge
Peter is a Senior Research Analyst at Uptime Intelligence. His expertise includes sustainability, energy efficiency, power and cooling in data centers. He has been a technology journalist for 30 years and has specialized in data centers for the past 10 years.
pjudge@uptimeinstitute.com
Latest Research
In the US, data center pushback is all about power
EU climate reporting: simplification is not simple
Jay
Dietrich
Seb
Shehadi
The European Commission aims to ease climate risk reporting by removing mid-cap operators from CSRD's scope and delaying reports to 2028. But under current rules, 2025 reports are required and foreign-owned mid-cap operators stay covered.
Should operators continue to prepare for climate risk reporting?
The US’ SEC has withdrawn requirements for climate risk reporting, and the EU is revising its rules. Despite this, strong drivers remain for operators to measure their environmental impact
Low-carbon hydrogen: not yet viable as primary power source
The cost of low-carbon green hydrogen will be prohibitive for primary power for many years. Some operators may adopt high-carbon (polluting) gray hydrogen ahead of transitioning to green hydrogen
More scrutiny and obligations as governments back data centers
Data centers are being included in national development plans as a source of economic growth. While this will ease operators’ access to land and power, it will also lead to more scrutiny from government and regulation.
AI supremacy: how will the new US GPU export controls work?
The US government is applying a new set of rules to control the building of large AI clusters around the world. The application of these rules will be complex.
Five data center predictions for 2025
Owen
Rogers
Uptime Intelligence looks beyond the more obvious trends of 2025 and examines some of the latest developments and challenges shaping the data center industry.
Data center resource use will raise deep questions — and opposition
As AI supercharges the growth in data center energy demands, new developments are likely to be increasingly politicized. Central governments may support their expansion, but opposition from local authorities and environmentalists will grow.
Hydrogen fuel cells: a niche option for standby power
Hydrogen from renewable sources is in short supply. While future plentiful supplies are planned, currently only a very small number of data centers are using hydrogen for standby power.
Critical national infrastructure status: what does it mean?
The UK has become the latest nation to classify data centers as part of the critical national infrastructure. But for data center operators, is this a welcome move?
On-site natural gas: why some sites need it
Some operators are using natural gas for on-site power where the local grid is constrained. This will increase their emissions — but gas is essential in the transition to renewable energy and operators’ use of it is best seen in this light.
Nature laws to play key role in planning and building facilities
Data center operators are already required to reduce their impact on the climate and soon they may have to do the same with local habitats. Emerging nature restoration rules will demand action to preserve ecosystems and biodiversity.
Hydrogen in data centers: an introduction
Hydrogen is a promising energy storage medium that can help decarbonize infrastructure. It is not a great fit for the majority of data centers, and the hydrogen economy is not fully developed.
Douglas
Donnellan
Andy
Lawrence
Daniel
Bizo
Peter
Judge
John
O'Brien
Jacqueline
Davis
Max
Smolaks
Rose
Weinschenk
The 14th edition of the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey highlights the experiences and strategies of data center owners and operators in the areas of resiliency, sustainability, efficiency, staffing, cloud and AI.
Europe taxes waste heat recovery: can data centers make it work?
According to a recent court ruling, European organizations are required to charge value added tax (VAT) on waste heat that they give away for free. This calls into question the economics of waste heat reuse.
