Over 41,000 people have signed a petition to prevent the construction of Microsoft's hyperscale data center in Leeds, England. The petition was started by a collective of 100 people but has since garnered support from thousands of people, including local residents.
Microsoft received the go-ahead to build the data center in April when the Leeds City Council unanimously approved the project, though a final decision requires permission from the local Chief Planning Officer. In total, three data center buildings totaling around 424,000 sq ft and the required power and water infrastructure will be built.
The data center will stand on the former Skelton Grange power station site, which used to have two coal-fired power stations. Those stations have since been demolished.
Those in favor of the project cite that 740 jobs will be created during the building phase and that over 350 permanent roles will come as a result of the new data center being built. A piece from the Leeds Times focuses largely on the potential positive outcomes of the project.
People opposed to the project highlight the potential environmental impact of the data center.
"There is overwhelming evidence that this site would pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of local residents, and the surrounding environment," reads the petition to prevent the construction of the data center.
The petition flags the large amount of water needed to cool the chips in the data center any time outside temperatures rise above about 29 degrees Celsius (84.2 degrees Fahrenheit). England is at the tail end of one of its hottest summers on record.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke on water requirements for data centers earlier this year. Nadella claimed that "the daily water usage over the course of an entire year is roughly equivalent to what a single restaurant would use."
The Microsoft CEO's remarks were general and did not specifically address concerns about the future data center in Leeds.
Microsoft is working on new cooling technologies to reduce how much water data centers require.
Power usage is also a concern raised by the petition:
"The site would use truly vast amounts of energy to power, making it by far the single biggest carbon emitter in Leeds. Over its planned 60 year lifetime it is projected to release more than 200,000,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is almost the equivalent of one year of the UK’s entire emissions."
Microsoft reportedly used more power than 100 nations in 2024. The growing use of AI will require more power going forward as more data centers are built.
The Leeds Planning Committee has already approved the construction of Microsoft's data center in Leeds. The final decision on the project will come from Chief Planning Officer Martin Elliot.
The petition claims there was "insufficient scrutiny of the project’s impacts" before the project was approved. The makers of the petition hope to prevent the final approval of the project and suggest potential legal action could follow to challenge the construction.
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