Justine Calma

The Elon Musk-led company is allegedly running gas turbines without the proper permit at a data center in Memphis, TN. Local environmental groups are reportedly urging regulators to investigate.

They’re worried about nitrogen oxides (NOx), smog-forming pollution that can aggravate respiratory illness.

The South Dublin County Council rejected the proposal, Bloomberg reports. Google reportedly didn’t provide sufficient information about “how the proposal will impact the power supply once operational.”

New data centers being built with the boom in AI have raised concerns about straining the power grid. Ireland is a hot spot for that construction, where data centers already use more electricity than urban households.

The company has a target of making all of its hardware packaging without plastic by 2025. Packaging for new products it made and launched in 2023 was at least 99 percent plastic-free, according to the company’s latest sustainability report. It’s replacing plastic with paper, which can be included in curbside recycling programs unlike most plastic packaging.