Germany Eases Data Center Heat Recycling Rules in Push for AI Growth

Germany has scaled back a rule requiring new data centers to reuse the waste heat from their equipment, as its push to expand AI computing runs up against its climate commitments. The Energy Efficiency Act, passed in 2023, had obliged new facilities to recycle a share of their waste heat, ideally into municipal heating systems. Under an amended bill now headed to parliament, operators would only need to assess whether reuse is feasible.

Data center firms argued the original requirements made building in Germany nearly impossible, with the German Data Center Association calling an early version a "data center prevention act." The government says the practical rules support digital sovereignty and economic growth. Critics, including former energy ministry official Patrick Graichen, accuse Berlin of trading climate targets for a shot at the AI boom.

The tension is not Germany's alone. EU member states have committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by the end of the decade, even as countries compete to attract energy-hungry AI infrastructure and reduce reliance on the United States. Several German data center proposals have collapsed in the past 18 months, though the precise causes are rarely clear; state-owned Komm.ONE pointed directly to the Energy Efficiency Act when it withdrew from a project in Baden-Württemberg.

Source: Wired