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points by reaperducer 3 days ago | 0 comments

I don't think the entire nation would ban data centers. The problem is that tech companies are building them on cheap land. Which usually means land that has little water and is better used for food or oxygen or things other than a massive one-story building.

Data centers in brownfields and urban environments see near-zero resistance. There are data centers in skyscrapers in the center of most major U.S. cities, and nobody cares.

Stop plowing down the forests, slurping up the aquifers, and digging up the prairies, and people will stop complaining.

[–] derektank 3 days ago

Data centers in urban areas definitely see massive resistance. Seattle straight up banned any new data centers with a capacity over 20 MW, even though water is a non-issue, and we have tons of industrial land in the south of the city.

[–] Peanuts99 2 days ago

Presumably because people don't want the cost of their energy to go up because a single company wants to come in and use half of the total capacity.

[–] jquery 3 days ago

The problem is data centers produce absolutely colossal amounts of noise that can be heard and felt for miles. Even if water is a non-issue, the noise isn’t.

[–] derektank 3 days ago

Neither is a problem in the sense that both noise and water consumption can be mitigated with some minor (relative to the total cost of a project) capital investments. If these were rational objections, states and municipalities could simply issue noise codes and water access caps, then let the companies figure out how to work within the lines. Instead, we’re left with blanket bans

[–] chunky1994 3 days ago

No, it’s not the noise it’s the power consumption. Your locale becomes a power consumption hog so your off-peak hours and your peak hours become very similarly priced. Noise can be dampened, the power bill cannot.

[–] ipsum2 3 days ago

This is actually a meme/fake videos on the internet, where they add random noise over their videos while recording a datacenter to make it seem really loud.

Realistically you can only hear it if you're within 30-50 feet of the data center, unless there's a separate diesel/natural gas generator.

[–] reaperducer 2 days ago

95% of Seattle isn't "urban."

Put a data center next to BoAT, and nobody cares.

[–] jquery 3 days ago

People are complaining because they are building data centers near people, and data centers produce prodigious amounts of noise pollution. They should be building them far away from civilization, where the low frequency noise has plenty of distance to attenuate.

[–] IcyWindows 3 days ago

People are complaining because of propaganda online. My middle school age children think data centers are evil and we don't have any around us nor have they ever seen one.

[–] blackqueeriroh 3 days ago

Have you ever been near an actual data center? Have you ever been in one?

[–] reaperducer 2 days ago

Have you ever actually lived next to one?

Not visited one in the middle of the day. Lived next to one 24/7.

[–] kenferry 3 days ago

https://www.ktvu.com/news/san-francisco-approves-other-citie...