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Backlash against AI data centres

Local opposition to large AI data centres is shaping policy on both sides of the Atlantic. US voters sided against them in 40 of 41 local ballot measures on Nov 3, and local pauses keep spreading, including a new 10-year moratorium in Ottawa, Kansas.

Confidence: medium. The ballot results, protests and arrests are well documented, though early tallies differed (38 to 40 of 41) while counts finished. How much data centres raise household power bills is disputed: a Dallas Fed paper links them to higher wholesale prices, while US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said they are not the cause. Protest sizes vary by source. · Updated 11 Nov 2026, 2pm ET

Open the full analysis and map

Why it matters: Data centres used about 415 TWh of electricity in 2024, around 1.5% of global consumption, and their demand has been growing about 12% a year, according to the International Energy Agency. source

What's happening

Companies are racing to build data centres for artificial intelligence, and opposition is growing over power bills, water, land, noise and secretive deals. The International Energy Agency estimates data centres used about 1.5% of the world's electricity in 2024, with the United States accounting for 45% of that. In the US, the issue became a campaign theme before the 2026 midterms: New York's governor imposed a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale sites, Texas's governor paused new permits pending an audit, and President Trump argued that communities rejecting data centres would end up poorer and help China (Fox News, Euronews). A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas working paper estimated data centres pushed up wholesale power prices by 6.9% (Al Jazeera). In Europe, a coalition of more than 100 groups wants new large projects paused until rules are clearer, while the EU's tech chief Henna Virkkunen has said people must be able to trust their energy bills will not soar (Euronews, Reuters). OpenAI has pledged to pay its own way on energy and grid costs at the sites it builds (Al Jazeera).

What changed recently

Key figures

15 (coalition of 100+ groups)European countries with coordinated anti-data-centre protests on Nov 6-7Stop Dirty Data Centres coalition, as reported by Euronews · 2026-11-05 · source
56%US voters who called data centres a crucial or major factor in their voteCNBC Voter Poll · 2026-11-03 · source
13.3 GWAnnounced Texas data-centre developments at risk under a moratorium backed by the governor-electJefferies (investment bank), as reported by Fox News · 2026-11-06 · source

What experts say

Their views, summarized in our words.

Sources