Green law may put US backers off data centre

Carbon reduction rules make it more costly to store data in new centres in the UK
Jane Bradley
EUROPE’S biggest planned data centre could miss out on an expected influx of business from America because of costly environmental laws, the Scottish team behind the project has warned.
David King, the director of the proposed £950m Lockerbie Data Centre, said a large number of blue chip companies in North America wanted to shift their data abroad to avoid government intrusion. They have said they will avoid Scotland because carbon reduction rules make it more costly to store data in new centres in the UK.
Many US companies moved their data to Canada after the 2001 Patriot Act gave the federal government access to any data stored on American soil.
However, Canada is to bring in similar legislation in the form of the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act and a reciprocal agreement with the US government, sparking a mass exodus of companies.
King said a trade visit to the US had revealed that companies looking to move their data storage overseas had ruled out Scotland because of higher costs caused by carbon reduction commitment legislation. The legislation is part of government plans to cut carbon emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
He said older data centres will be able to work within the laws, significantly reducing their carbon output from a much higher base. But new developments like the planned 250,000 sq ft site near Lockerbie are already built to be highly efficient.
“It is hard to improve on what we have already,” said King.