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This is a slightly shortened and adapted translation of a report published on the BBC website. The full original in English can be read here.
In the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, thousands of people protested against the construction of new data centers. The slogans of its participants are consonant with the objections that are raised against data centers in other European countries and in the United States.
Scots, unhappy with the government's plans to explore the idea of building several new data centers, marched along Edinburgh's main street to the Scottish Parliament building.
The Scottish authorities are preparing to formulate their requirements for the construction of computing facilities and an overall strategy in this regard. Scottish Innovation Minister Alyn Smith recently compared data centers to warehouses for aging whiskey, a product without which Scotland's economy is inconceivable.
The protesters completely disagree with this. Slogans such as “Data centers for AI threaten human life” and “You will have to pay for data centers with the Earth” were visible at the demonstration.
The specific arguments against are exactly the same as in other countries where digital giants need computing power: huge consumption of electricity and water, noise and the creation of “light pollution” in rural areas.
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There are already 15 data centers operating in Scotland. So far, the largest of them has a capacity of 12 megawatts. But at the planning stage - in the town of Chapelcross, next to the power station on the southern border - a project with a capacity of a thousand megawatts. If it is built, it will become one of the most powerful structures of its kind in the whole world.
Anti-AI activists and Scottish Greens are calling for a moratorium on new construction.
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The regional authorities previously announced their readiness to build 26 new data centers. Scotland leads in the volume of such construction because there are more resources to power data centers there - due to a larger number of wind farms.
The Minister for Innovation says discussions around the subject sometimes take a "wild" turn. “To listen to them, it seems like we have no planning at all. It's impossible to compare something huge built in the Utah desert with something that could be built in Scotland,” says Aline Smith.
Friends of the Earth's Kim Pratt argues that Scotland should have the final say on whether data centers can be built.
“These structures are so large-scale that their impact will affect the entire region. We are facing huge increases in energy prices, but also impacts on the climate. The Scottish government has only a few months to assess the consequences. But the industry is still very young and we don’t know what the long-term consequences might be,” she says.
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