The Efficiency Paradox: Why I’m Watching Prism Power

Georgina Thomas
1 day ago
4 min read

By Georgina Thomas, MSc Sustainable Development

As a sustainability professional, my job is to look past the "green" labels and ask uncomfortable questions. Sustainability is rarely a binary state; it is a spectrum of progress, compromise, and constant critique. In 2026, nowhere is this more apparent than in the UK’s data centre sector.

While these facilities have been designated as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) by the UK government, their growth brings significant environmental and governance challenges.

The Sustainability Critique: Energy and Water

The scale of the problem is vast. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that global data centre electricity consumption will exceed 1,000 TWh by the end of 2026 (IEA Electricity Report 2025/26).

Putting 1,000 TWh into perspective: This is roughly equivalent to the total annual electricity consumption of Japan—one of the world's largest economies. In the UK, data centres already consume about 1% of the total electricity supply, a figure set to rise as AI adoption accelerates.

Beyond power, water is a growing concern. A single large-scale facility can use as much water as a small town for cooling. Recent data suggests that global AI-driven water usage could reach 6.6 billion cubic metres by 2027 (UK Government: Water Use in AI). For a sustainability critic, the question goes beyond "green power"—it's about the total resource footprint and the impact on local water stress levels.

The "Engine Room" Solution: Simple Tech for Complex Problems

In data centres, the physical bottleneck is the Power Train—the path electricity takes from the street to the server. Most people assume energy is lost at the server, but a significant amount is actually wasted before it ever reaches the hardware.

Prism Power addresses this by focusing on the "Engine Room." As Keith Hall, Managing Director of Prism Power Group, explains:

"Our focus remains on engineering sustainable, high-integrity solutions that deliver the greatest value. By manufacturing bespoke and standard products to fit all applications, we enable operators to overcome the specific technical foundations that often hinder data centre expansion."

For non-technical investors, you can think of the 'engine room' in two parts:

Smart Switchgear (The Distribution): This acts as the building’s brain. It receives high-voltage power and breaks it into smaller circuits. Prism’s "Smart" switchgear monitors this flow in real-time, reducing the 8–12% of energy typically lost as heat during distribution.
Precision Cooling (The Temperature): Traditional air-conditioning is inefficient. Prism builds modular systems like the DataQube™, which uses precision cooling to remove heat exactly where it’s generated.

By integrating these two systems, they reduce energy waste by 30%. This provides a practical bridge that allows the UK to maintain its digital infrastructure without placing an impossible burden on the existing grid.

The Governance Gap in Scaling

As Prism Power, a client of Sustainable Wealth Group, prepares to scale, they face a classic "scaling dilemma." Fundraising to meet massive demand is a positive indicator of market fit, but from a governance perspective, rapid growth requires intense scrutiny.

We must ask:

How does a business maintain high sustainability standards when scaling production at speed?
Can the "engine room" technology evolve fast enough to stay ahead of the grid's limitations?
How transparent is the supply chain as they source components for their Watford manufacturing site?

I am encouraged by their strides in local UK manufacturing. By building in Watford, they maintain tighter control over quality and governance. This facility allows for Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), where efficiency claims are verified in a controlled environment before the equipment is ever plugged into the UK grid.

The UK Innovation Ecosystem

Prism Power is part of a strong UK engineering tradition. Other firms are also making strides:

Anord Mardix (Kendal, Cumbria/Blackburn, Lancashire): Specialising in modular "power pods" that combine switchgear and cooling to speed up deployment.
Ark Data Centres (Corsham, Wiltshire): Leading in low-energy "free cooling" designs that use filtered outside air to eliminate the need for complex mechanical chillers.
Johnson & Phillips (Newport, Wales): Improving power efficiency in older facilities through harmonic mitigation and power factor correction.

Sustainability in 2026 is about making hard choices. I am looking forward to seeing how Prism Power manages its impact as it scales to meet the UK’s urgent infrastructure needs.