New Delhi, Oct. 6 -- This July, several hundred residents of Thane formed a human chain outside a 53-acre plot in Balkum that had been earmarked for a hyperscale data centre. They were agitating against the noise and heat it would generate, and the water it would consume in a city that is already struggling to supply its residents. This, as far as I can tell, was the first time Indians have taken to the streets against a data centre. It will not be the last.

The arguments they were making are not new. Claims that each question we put to ChatGPT consumes half a litre of water and uses 10 times the electricity of a Google search have been around since 2023.

But the soundness of these allegations have been questioned. The figures, it is sa...