Irish data centres consumed 22 percent of national electricity production last year - more than all Irish urban households combined. By comparison, the same facilities in the US and the UK consume just 6 percent. The report, commissioned by environmental groups, calls this figure "a warning for all of Europe."

The numbers are concrete. From 2015 to 2023, the Irish economy lost 715 million euros because of data centres. The average Irish family electricity bill rose by 360 euros over the same period. The forecast - the average household bill is set to rise another 295 to 644 euros between 2025 and 2034.

Why do data centres push up costs for everyone else? Because they constantly demand massive, unflinching amounts of power. That means in many hours of the day, gas plants set the market price - and gas plants are the most expensive. Researcher Sean Fearon sums it up: "the large and unscaled demand from data centres increases the hours during which gas sets the price on the Irish market."

Meanwhile, a new study from Arizona State University shows data centres are literally heating up the air around them. Temperatures can be up to 2 degrees Celsius higher in cities downwind of these facilities. One data centre produces waste heat equivalent to 40,000 households. The result: higher temperatures → more air conditioning → more consumption → more thermal stress on the grid. A classic vicious circle.

For the Balkans, this matters for a simple reason: the Macedonian, Serbian, Romanian governments are all dreaming about attracting data centres. Offers from Microsoft, Amazon, Google move through the Danube region every few months. And in that fight "for the future," few government administrations are paying attention to the Irish 22-percent number. That will be our fight in five years - and we still haven't started thinking about how to play it.