Datacenters are an indispensable link in enabling our increasing digital behaviour. But as many large tech corporations have announced the development of more datacenters in the Netherlands, questions are being raised about the negative effects these immense buildings entail.
In 2020 the Netherlands hosted 189 datacenters covering more than 378.000 square metres, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2019. The number of datacenters has stabilised but is expected to grow even larger in the future (Nauta, 2020). Large technology corporations like Microsoft and Googled operate immense datacenters providing secure digital infrastructure on which customers can rely (Microsoft, 2021). Google has invested more than 2.5 billion euros into the datacenters located in the Netherlands and research conducted by consultancy bureau Copenhagen Economics suggests that datacenter related investments have contributed 3.6 billion euros to the Dutch economy whilst creating an average of 3.400 jobs per year between 2014 and 2019 (RTL Niews, 2020). Almost all internet traffic flows trough datacenters; video conferencing, e-mails, streaming services and mobile data. Working remotely during the pandemic would not be able without the crucial digital infrastructure datacenters provide (Nauta, 2020). However, there have been rising concerns about the development of new datacenters. Microsoft came under a lot of scrutiny in 2020 when the popular Dutch TV-show host Arjan Lubach decided to dedicate an episode on the development of a datacenter in the municipality of Hollands Kroon and ever since new datacenters have become a hot topic for discussion (Aanen, 2020).
One of the major concerns raised by critics of datacenters is the high energy consumption. Their main criticism is that datacenters slow down the global energy transition, because they use all the (green) energy generated in the area (RTL Niews, 2020). Globally datacenters use 1 percent of all electricity and the recent surge of datacenters in the Amsterdam area even has caused regional officials to discuss the regional electricity grid limits. The municipality of Amsterdam even issued a suspension of datacenter building permits in 2020 (Nauta, 2020). Google defends itself by claiming their datacenters have become much more efficient in terms of energy consumption. ‘Compared to five years ago, Google now gets about seven times more computing power from the same amount of energy’ claims Director Google Netherlands Martijn Bertisen (RTL Niews, 2020). Microsoft has laid their focus on operating more sustainable as well. The company has committed itself to realise a carbon negative grid by 2030 and claims their datacenter operate 98% more carbon efficient than traditional enterprise datacenters (Microsoft, 2021).
Datacenters are of upmost importance as consumers and companies increasingly use online services. Although high energy consumption might be a justified problem, large technology companies like Google and Microsoft claim to have decreased the energy consumption of their datacenters and made their operations more sustainable. As long as we keep e-mailing, gaming and streaming movies we need datacenters and that is not going to change in the foreseen future.
Nauta, H. (2020). Weer een datacenter erbij: onze digitale hoger is onstilbaar. Trouw. Retrieved 24 September from: https://www.trouw.nl/economie/weer-een-datacenter-erbij-onze-digitale-honger-is-onstilbaar~b32ae65c/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
Microsoft (2021). Azure Global Infrastructure. Retrieved 24 September from https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/
Aanen, F. (2020). Gigantische datacenters Microsoft en Google: ‘de Cloud staat in Nederland’. Retrieved 24 September from https://www.dutchcowboys.nl/technology/gigantische-datacenters-microsoft-en-google-de-cloud-staat-in-nederland
RTL Nieuws (2020). Google neemt tweede Nederlandse datacenter in gebruik. Retrieved 24 September from https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/tech/artikel/5201896/tweede-datacenter-van-google-nederland-gebruik
