To make my statement more precise, I know what you're saying is true but what I mean is, in a three month span one can put noise abatement panels along a freewa

To make my statement more precise, I know what you're saying is true but what I mean is, in a three month span one can put noise abatement panels along a freeway, in say, Charlotte North Carolina. (Just to be optimistic in this hypothetical) Three months isn't enough time to propagate effects from the long term changes that you correctly mentioned are responsible for reducing auto noise on a larger scale, and those panels aren't going to make the sound go away entirely, but they will abate the noise on the other side. That's what I'm saying is happening all the time and is analogous to the conditions in the article which seem to be newly constructed data centers. Of course there will be changes over time inside the data centers that make them more efficient and whatnot, but if there's a nearby residential zone when a new one is being built, just put some abatement into the site design. That takes no R&D, but it does take more capital.