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.
reply95% of Seattle isn't "urban."
replyPut a data center next to BoAT, and nobody cares.
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.
replyNeither 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
replyNo, 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.
replyThis 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.
replyRealistically 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.
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.
replyPeople 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.
replyHave you ever been near an actual data center? Have you ever been in one?
replyHave you ever actually lived next to one?
replyNot visited one in the middle of the day. Lived next to one 24/7.