How do we live with data centres?

Data centres are becoming and ever bigger part of our daily lives and our landscapes – great big warehouses, packed with computers, that power pretty much every digital thing we do, from using AI chatbots or filing our tax returns. They’ve popped up around the world in recent years and – whether we like it or not - more are coming. But people don’t necessarily want to live next to these places. They’re often big, faceless facilities, built close to the towns and cities they serve, and there’s a perception that they’re pushing up electricity costs and consuming precious water. So as the AI revolution rolls on, fuelling the need for ever greater digital storage capacity, how do we learn to live with data centres?

Presenter/producer: Gideon Long

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(Picture: Aerial view of a large Google Data Centre in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, UK on 30th November 2025. Credit: Richard Newstead/Getty Images)