The CSO has released data on metered electricity consumption for 2025. The extraordinary headline figures: - Electricity consumption from data centres grew by nearly 10% last year, and now accounts for 23% of Ireland's electricity demand.

I've been at the International Energy Workshop in Cape Town this week. I'm avoiding the brutal European heat, but the concept of climate overshoot is top of my mind. I gave a keynote talk on how energy systems modelling can evolve to support countries in returning from overshoot.

🎓 Fully funded PhD scholarship! 🎓 Research the impact of AI-driven data centre expansion on the energy transition with me. The project will be co-supervised by one of the world's top experts in AI, Prof. Barry O'Sullivan, from UCC's School of Computer Science.

Have you listened to our episode with @hannahdaly.ie? pod.fo/e/42e262 Hannah is Professor of Sustainable Energy at @ucc.ie and you can find more of her work at HannahDaly.ie.

For Tech’s Sake: Are data centres a drain? (with Prof Hannah Daly)

In this episode, Elaine is joined by energy researcher Prof Hannah Daly to discuss the energy strain data centres represent for Ireland, the greenwashing that enables their proliferation in the fac...

pod.fo

Reflections on the Joint Committee on AI and my new working paper that shows how data centres could consume 55% of Ireland's electricity by 2040 and cause gas demand to rise. hannahdaly.ie/2026-06-11-J...

Reflections from the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence

The energy cost of data centres in Ireland

hannahdaly.ie

Hannah Daly@hannahdaly.ie · 2mo ago

Today, I'll brief the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence on a new working paper which quantifies the potential energy and emissions from data centres into the future under the new Large Energy User Connection Policy, should 5.8 GW of new capacity (estimated through a market survey) emerge.

A brand new piece for Crikey: digging into what happens now for Australia's data centre debate Anthropic, planning 20GW, would have to build 1.7x the amount of all renewable energy ever built in Australia to date, to meet the 100% mandate. www.crikey.com.au/2026/06/10/m...

Deputy Malcolm Byrne is that sort of person who will say ‘oh you oppose data centre expansion but you have an IPHONE???’ and thinks it’s clever cc @hannahdaly.ie

Worth reading @hannahdaly.ie's full research here - it contains some really stunning numbers. The most important point is the 80% renewable mandate delayed by six years: meaning six years of massive gas use and emissions, breaching carbon budgets and spiking bills zenodo.org/records/2058...

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 2mo ago

Data centre electricity demand could exceed power usage of entire country

Today, I'll brief the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence on a new working paper which quantifies the potential energy and emissions from data centres into the future under the new Large Energy User Connection Policy, should 5.8 GW of new capacity (estimated through a market survey) emerge.

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 2mo ago

Data centre electricity demand could exceed power usage of entire country

It is really heartening to see this kind of integrity. Carbon accounting should absolutely be not agreed by private, industry-led groups.

Danny Cullenward@ghgpolicy.org · 2mo ago

I have resigned from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's Independent Standards Board. The Protocol is openly violating its own rules and has effectively delegated forest carbon accounting standards to a secret, industry-led working group. ghgpolicy.org/s/2026-06-08...

I have resigned from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's Independent Standards Board. The Protocol is openly violating its own rules and has effectively delegated forest carbon accounting standards to a secret, industry-led working group. ghgpolicy.org/s/2026-06-08...

New column: Now is the ideal time to make fossil fuel phase-out the organising principle of Ireland's energy and economic strategy. My piece in today's @irishtimes.com: www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

TLDR: A country in Ireland’s geographical position needs to invest heavily in oceanic research to prepare for whatever is coming. This move by the USA is tearing out the smoke alarm so you can sleep through the fire. Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Ep 27 - AMOC

The evidence for and against the Atlantic's overturning current reaching a tipping point this century.

rte.ie

We have a couple of summer student vacancies at the moment If you are interested in historical GHG emissions and temperature impacts... ...check out our vacancies page www.ucc.ie/en/epmg/abou... SEFS Summer Student Job Specification

About | University College Cork

Learn about the Energy Policy and Modelling Group and our research at University College Cork

ucc.ie

This article is apparently serious when it celebrates a possible collapse in AMOC because it could mean less rain in Ireland. I read it twice to try to find the punchline; it’s not there. www.irishtimes.com/culture/2026...

Could Ireland end up with the climate of Newfoundland or Malmo?

In a Word ... Climate

irishtimes.com

No shame. No accountability. Irish civilians detained after being seized in international waters are now being used as political props by Israel’s far-right Government. What we’re witnessing is performative cruelty - propaganda in advance of potential elections in Israel.

If you're a reviewer or an editor for a scientific journal, I urge you to not hop on the "RCP8.5 is dead" train. There are now editors that reject RCP8.5 but are ok with 1pctCO2. 🤯 Both are what-if scenarios, useful to science. Don't let politics influence what we can research and publish! 1/3

🔌💡 New paper alert: Surging data center and cryptocurrency demand could spike regional electricity costs up to 57% and push U.S. power sector CO₂ emissions up 28% by 2030. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... A thread on what we found 🧵👇

Power system costs and emissions from data center and cryptocurrency mining expansion in the United States

Power system costs and emissions from data center and cryptocurrency mining expansion in the United States, Johnson, Jeremiah X., Wade, Cameron, Blackhurst, Michael, Decarolis, Joseph F, De Queiroz, Anderson R, Posen, I Daniel, Jaramillo, Paulina

iopscience.iop.org

This morning Irish climate experts wrote to Minister O'Brien @deptcee.bsky.social to express deep concern that urgent #methane reduction risks being undermined if climate targets are set using a ‘temperature neutrality’ approach. 1/13

International scientists plead with Ireland not to adopt controversial greenhouse gas assessment method

Scientists raise alarm over proposal to ease Ireland’s climate obligations

irishtimes.com

www.irishtimes.com/environment/... “It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Government is attempting to dismantle the Climate Act...without actually amending it, to facilitate emissions-intensive projects that are likely to contribute substantially to the State’s emissions profile.”

Dismantling of climate law will reduce scrutiny of large infrastructure projects

If a State body is seriously proposing to impact on the environment, it should have overriding public interest stitched in from the outset

irishtimes.com

Contrast the last two energy stories I’ve been asked to comment on in Irish media: 1. A proposal to lift the nuclear energy ban is to be debated in the Dáil 2. 76 fully electric double-decker buses have reportedly been sitting idle in Dublin for up to 2.5 years

This @carbonbrief.org explainer on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is very good. Useful for experts and novices alike. Kudos to @ceciliakeating.carbonbrief.org, @tomoprater.carbonbrief.org and @kerryanncleaver.bsky.social. interactive.carbonbrief.org/amoc-explain...

AMOC: Is global warming tipping key Atlantic ocean currents towards ‘collapse’?

The AMOC is under threat from human-caused climate change, as warming seas, melting ice and increased rainfall upset the temperature and salt balance of the North Atlantic.

interactive.carbonbrief.org

Good to hear that the Irish government is looking into additional payments for heat pumps and efficient cars, rather than just addressing the energy crisis with cuts to fossil fuel prices. However, supporting HVO ("renewable diesel") would be a really bad idea. www.rte.ie/news/ireland...

Govt always looking to reduce energy costs, says minister

Minister for Energy and Climate Darragh O'Brien has said the Government is always looking to do more to make homes more energy efficient and to reduce costs for people.

rte.ie

My local biodiversity group is showing Ireland's first screening of "People's Emergency Briefing On Climate and Nature Breakdown". It's in lovely Tracton, between Carrigaline and Kinsale, in Cork.

No subtle climate-delay tactics on display here from Deputy Danny Healy-Rae during Ireland's Earth Day parliamentary debate - just classic, old-school climate denial, "we can't control the weather". www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/d...

Meat and dairy producers haven't been serious about climate change. Yet high-profile climate event planners regularly invite them to speak. Chances are extraordinarily high that, while they will posture as responsible, they will exaggerate & lie. www.newscientist.com/article/2523...

98 per cent of meat and dairy sustainability pledges are greenwashing

The food industry has made big promises to reduce emissions and become more sustainable, but a review concludes that many of the pledges are not backed up by evidence

newscientist.com

I spoke with The Guardian about Ireland's fuel blockades and the silver lining of this whole mess for the energy transition.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3mo ago

How Ireland’s war-driven fuel blockades revealed the true cost of Europe’s oil addiction

Many govts hope capturing carbon from power plants burning wood will cause "negative emissions." New Nature Sust. paper today finds this likely increases emissions for decades, generates no negative emissions within 150 years, and increase electricity costs ~3.5-fold. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Decades of increased emissions from forest-fuelled BECCS - Nature Sustainability

Governments are considering subsidies for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage fuelled by wood from existing forests. However, a transparent model estimates that this will probably increase emiss...

nature.com

We published a reply to comment on our recent Temperature Neutrality Paper. The (very) short version: If everyone does it, the very assumptions that underpin it are invalidated. #ClimateChange #ClimateMitigation #Climatepolicy #TemperatureNeutrality www.linkedin.com/posts/colm-d...

National temperature neutrality, agricultural methane and climate policy: reinforcing inequality in the global food system | Colm Duffy

📣 This morning we have a 🗞️ new paper (reply to comment) out in Environmental Research Letters: It highlights a simple but important problem with “temperature neutrality” (TN) as a national climate t...

linkedin.com

Great article on the carbon tax from John.

John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@thinkorswim.bsky.social · 4mo ago

“The Irish government balked at introducing any such moderate, sensible energy-saving measures, presumably fearful of backlash from a public conditioned to believe that any sacrifice, no matter how small, is intolerable”. My take is in @thejournal.ie today. www.thejournal.ie/readme/carbo...