The cities of Melbourne and Sydney have signed on to a global agreement to address the environmental impact of data centres, as the use of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT prompt a surge in developing processing facilities that is straining water and energy systems around the world.
Data centres are power hungry and the use of artificial intelligence is running up huge energy bills.Credit: iStock
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece.Credit: Getty Images
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego have led the movement to develop shared guidelines and standards for low-carbon and water efficient AI infrastructure, during a conference of global mayors in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of United Nations COP climate talks, which begin with a leaders meeting this week.
So far, almost a dozen mayors, including those of Athens, Paris, Milan and Johannesburg, and the director general of the Dubai Environment and Climate Change Authority – who are all members of a network known as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group – have signed on.
It is estimated there are at least 1700 data centres across the 97 C40 cities, which collectively represent almost one-quarter of the global economy.
Speaking from Rio, Reece said data centres and AI infrastructure currently accounts for 2 per cent of Melbourne’s energy consumption, which is expected to rise to 8 per cent in five years and 20 per cent by 2040.
“I’m not against AI or data centres. I’m very supportive and optimistic about the outcomes they will mean for our economies. We can all see the benefits they will deliver,” he said.
“What we are working towards is a fit-for-purpose approach which allow for the rollout of this new technology, but does so in a way which is sustainable. This could include building regulations requiring that renewable power be the source of energy for data centres.”
Reece said city centres were increasingly becoming hubs for data centres, but also for their customers and for the firms that were developing them.
Gallego said AI had “transformational potential, but communities need basic standards and transparency to ensure the infrastructure that supports them is developed in a way that benefits local residents”.
Sydney currently has more than double Melbourne’s data centre capacity, but the Victorian capital has a greater pipeline of planned capacity for projects where construction is yet to begin, according to real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.
Victorian Economic Growth Minister Danny Pearson told this masthead last month the state government wanted to accelerate planning processes to recruit more data centres to the state.
“I think there’s an opportunity now to have that land repurposed for data centres,” he said.
Pearson said Victoria currently had about 48 operational data centres, with 20 more yet to come online. These ranged from massive “hyperscale” facilities built by technology giants such as Amazon, to smaller “co-located” centres where businesses rent space. Among the most recent to be announced is a $2 billion facility in Fishermans Bend.
Melbourne Water last month warned that it is receiving applications from new hyperscale data centres, which use large amounts of water to cool servers, with water demands “exceeding those of nearly all top 30 non-residential customers” in the city.
In June, global tech giant Amazon Web Services announced it would increase its spending on data centres in Australia to $20 billion over the next five years, a development push that would include significantly expanding data centre “regions” in Sydney and Melbourne.
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