3 ms·

Try living next to a constant 80-100 dB hum 24x7. You’d not be complaining about people being irrational.

bruce511 2mo ago
I'm sure there are data centers that make a noise. And if you're firing up a generator that's a separate issue. But the noise from computer fans and power supplies is easy to ameliorate and can be a trivial permit requirement. The noise is all high-frequency which means most anything will stop it. Frankly building an earth berm around the site would kill all the noise and make it better to look at. Throw in some trees and you're done. I get the water and power concerns. But (in the right locations) both are solvable. Power can be balanced with power generation (off site) especially solar and wind. Water isn't really "used" it's just necessary as a heat-sink so as long as it's available it can stay available. Yes, govt should write permits carefully. And there are locations it is not suitable. But opposition to data centers in general is just hype.
- lovich 2mo ago
  > The noise is all high-frequency which means most anything will stop it. Frankly building an earth berm around the site would kill all the noise and make it better to look at. Throw in some trees and you're done. Have any of these data centers done this? All the ones I’ve seen haven’t even put up a sound baffling wall. If a data center’s owner has taken steps to ameliorate or completely prevent their negative externalities then opposition to them definitely looks like NIMBYism. If, however, you’re just saying they _could_ prevent the problems, but then never do, I’m even more inclined to support the people telling them to fuck off.
  - bruce511 2mo ago
    The developer (likely) won't do it in isolation. But the point of building permits, and building regs and so on is to create requirements that let the development live in harmony with the community. If local govt is not stipulating the requirements then that's on them. People don't need to be "against data centers" they need to be "for no noise" and so on.
    - lovich 2mo ago
      > The developer (likely) won't do it in isolation. Do you not see how people might be angry at someone who dumps their problems onto your doorstep unless the government forces them not to?
      - bruce511 2mo ago
        You don't get angry with the scorpion for stinging the frog. He is just behaving according to his nature. The US is in a late-capitalist phase right now. It's gotten here because the voting public think it's a good thing. Every two years they go to the polls and vote for "business friendly" parties and policies. And indeed most Americans today would say Capitailism is great, Govt intervention is bad, fewer regulations gets stuff done. Anything other than rabid capitalism is defacto Communism. And while very popular right now getting angry at all serves no purpose. When everyone is angry about everything all the time it ceases to be notable. What is purposeful is taking an interest in local govt. It's alerting your council as to your concerns. And by encouraging neighbors to do the same. It's in thinking beyond the simplistic "pro business at all costs" rhetoric. It's understanding that current US policies, foreign and domestic, are specifically designed to make companies richer and citizens poorer. And understand that you're not in a fight to stop development. You're in a fight to make the development work in harmony with the community, and not against it. The opposite of ugly corporate behavior is not communism.
        lovich 2mo ago
        > You don't get angry with the scorpion for stinging the frog. He is just behaving according to his nature. It’s a nice analogy but it’s still people making these decisions. I will in fact get angry at someone who decides to dump their trash on my lawn because it’s in their nature to be a piece of shit. And that’s why people are angry at these data center companies. > And understand that you're not in a fight to stop development. You're in a fight to make the development work in harmony with the community, and not against it. Yea, and people vote to not have data centers in their towns and get overridden anyway. So now it is a fight to stop development, from the view of these people trying to stop the data centers from being built and dumping noise and air pollution on them. > The opposite of ugly corporate behavior is not communism. Don’t know where this non sequitur came from. At no point was communism being discussed. Being against actions of companies that have a negative impact on your life does not have anything to do with communism.
- kube-system 2mo ago
  Absolutely zero noise from any datacenter comes from the fans or power supplies of the equipment inside of it. The equipment is inside of the building. Datacenter noise comes from the chiller units.
  - bruce511 2mo ago
    Fair enough, but again that noise is easily dealt with by proper planning and permitting. Given that chillers exists in lots of places it seems like this is a solved problem.
kube-system 2mo ago
That depends highly on the datacenter. While a huge hyperscaler might be noisy, many datacenters are quiet enough that people don’t even know they’re there. The one I host at, you can’t hear from the end of the parking lot. The coolers aren’t any noisier than the ones on other commercial buildings. These kinds of datacenters are everywhere and most people probably just think they are warehouse or office building.
conductr 2mo ago
We build residential right up to 20 lane freeways with heavy traffic speeding 75+ miles an hour. The tire humming is loud too.

I'm sure there are data centers that make a noise. And if you're firing up a generator that's a separate issue. But the noise from computer fans and power supplies is easy to ameliorate and can be a trivial permit requirement. The noise is all high-frequency which means most anything will stop it. Frankly building an earth berm around the site would kill all the noise and make it better to look at. Throw in some trees and you're done. I get the water and power concerns. But (in the right locations) both are solvable. Power can be balanced with power generation (off site) especially solar and wind. Water isn't really "used" it's just necessary as a heat-sink so as long as it's available it can stay available. Yes, govt should write permits carefully. And there are locations it is not suitable. But opposition to data centers in general is just hype.

lovich 2mo ago
> The noise is all high-frequency which means most anything will stop it. Frankly building an earth berm around the site would kill all the noise and make it better to look at. Throw in some trees and you're done. Have any of these data centers done this? All the ones I’ve seen haven’t even put up a sound baffling wall. If a data center’s owner has taken steps to ameliorate or completely prevent their negative externalities then opposition to them definitely looks like NIMBYism. If, however, you’re just saying they _could_ prevent the problems, but then never do, I’m even more inclined to support the people telling them to fuck off.
- bruce511 2mo ago
  The developer (likely) won't do it in isolation. But the point of building permits, and building regs and so on is to create requirements that let the development live in harmony with the community. If local govt is not stipulating the requirements then that's on them. People don't need to be "against data centers" they need to be "for no noise" and so on.
  - lovich 2mo ago
    > The developer (likely) won't do it in isolation. Do you not see how people might be angry at someone who dumps their problems onto your doorstep unless the government forces them not to?
    - bruce511 2mo ago
      You don't get angry with the scorpion for stinging the frog. He is just behaving according to his nature. The US is in a late-capitalist phase right now. It's gotten here because the voting public think it's a good thing. Every two years they go to the polls and vote for "business friendly" parties and policies. And indeed most Americans today would say Capitailism is great, Govt intervention is bad, fewer regulations gets stuff done. Anything other than rabid capitalism is defacto Communism. And while very popular right now getting angry at all serves no purpose. When everyone is angry about everything all the time it ceases to be notable. What is purposeful is taking an interest in local govt. It's alerting your council as to your concerns. And by encouraging neighbors to do the same. It's in thinking beyond the simplistic "pro business at all costs" rhetoric. It's understanding that current US policies, foreign and domestic, are specifically designed to make companies richer and citizens poorer. And understand that you're not in a fight to stop development. You're in a fight to make the development work in harmony with the community, and not against it. The opposite of ugly corporate behavior is not communism.
      - lovich 2mo ago
        > You don't get angry with the scorpion for stinging the frog. He is just behaving according to his nature. It’s a nice analogy but it’s still people making these decisions. I will in fact get angry at someone who decides to dump their trash on my lawn because it’s in their nature to be a piece of shit. And that’s why people are angry at these data center companies. > And understand that you're not in a fight to stop development. You're in a fight to make the development work in harmony with the community, and not against it. Yea, and people vote to not have data centers in their towns and get overridden anyway. So now it is a fight to stop development, from the view of these people trying to stop the data centers from being built and dumping noise and air pollution on them. > The opposite of ugly corporate behavior is not communism. Don’t know where this non sequitur came from. At no point was communism being discussed. Being against actions of companies that have a negative impact on your life does not have anything to do with communism.
kube-system 2mo ago
Absolutely zero noise from any datacenter comes from the fans or power supplies of the equipment inside of it. The equipment is inside of the building. Datacenter noise comes from the chiller units.
- bruce511 2mo ago
  Fair enough, but again that noise is easily dealt with by proper planning and permitting. Given that chillers exists in lots of places it seems like this is a solved problem.

kube-system 2mo ago

That depends highly on the datacenter. While a huge hyperscaler might be noisy, many datacenters are quiet enough that people don’t even know they’re there. The one I host at, you can’t hear from the end of the parking lot. The coolers aren’t any noisier than the ones on other commercial buildings. These kinds of datacenters are everywhere and most people probably just think they are warehouse or office building.

conductr 2mo ago

We build residential right up to 20 lane freeways with heavy traffic speeding 75+ miles an hour. The tire humming is loud too.