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Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

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Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#211

Post by judemelancon »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #140
Aurornis wrote: post #20

I agree that I don’t want a data center in my backyard either. What’s missing from this strange conversation is discussion about how many data center proposals are near residential areas. I tried to look for one in my state and a few surrounding areas and couldn’t find any. There was an amusing story about how data center protestors had to organize expensive bus trips to get the protesters out to the data center site…

Most of it is anti-AI sentiment, there are already a ton of people who have lost jobs, or clients to AI. What bothers me is clearing forests, sometimes even protected forests with the idea that they'll ask for forgiveness instead of permission.

I don't think they have an interest in forgiveness. I'm not sure it's a concept in their worldview.

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#212

Post by pibaker »

strictnein wrote: post #58
mindslight wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Folks care because their bottom line is impacted in a time when it’s already hard to make ends meet every month due to rising costs of food, gas, and utilities, not because of some unnamed boogeyman in the form of a “nation state competitor” While agreeing with where you're coming from, including this, it is also worth nothing that there is truth to what you're rejecting as well. Our longstanding unsolved domestic…

Exactly. Russia has been doing it for decades and it would be foolish to assume China didn't learn from them. Thomas Rid's "Active Measures" covers this in detail, and it's somewhat maddening to read, because it details how much of the civil strife we've experienced that was exacerbated by their actions. https://www.amazon.com/Active-Measures-History-Disinformatio...

How is "Anyone who disagrees with me is a Russian troll" working out for you liberals?

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#213

Post by Casteil »

chasd00 wrote: post #7

No one ever cared about DCs before now. I think there’s a lot of social media influence from nation state competitors going on to try and slow SOTA development in the US. Ironically, There’s enough issues with the DC buildout going on that even with 100% public opinion support it would still be significantly delayed. The behind the meter power generation isn’t going well. There’s only so many gas fired turbines on th…

>No one ever cared about DCs before now.

Fewer people cared, sure.. but it's because until recently they weren't eclipsing power consumption of extremely energy-heavy industries, noticeably driving local residential energy prices up.

They also weren't so heavily noise polluting nor were they typically built in places where their noise pollution affected so many people.

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#214

Post by tredre3 »

maccard wrote: post #183
linksnapzz wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect the Nabisco plant in Chicago pulls about ~12 million therms worth of natural gas, at 30kwh per therm, that's pretty significant.

A quick google says that the entire city of Chicago draws about 3.4GW - are you saying that one bakery uses over 2/3 of the draw of the entire city?

No, he is saying that if they were to replace natural gas with electricity, it would use 2.2 gigawatts of electricity.

I don't think the conversion is as straightforward as they claimed. But they're also not claiming that they currently pull gigawatts of electricity.

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#215

Post by redlewel »

rsoto2 wrote: post #69
redlewel wrote: post #30

I think this is because the demand is so extreme for datacenters now that companies are building them in a manner that disrupts the environment around them. The newer ones are using on-site generators that are insanely loud and require multiples more power than datacenters have historically needed. For a rack with traditional servers with just RAM/CPU/Drives, 5kW is sufficient in most cases. When you have racks that…

Yes, the AI Datacenters are much worse for the environment. xAI is using methane-turbines to power theirs, and they are allowed to pollute your communities because they bribed the Trump admin. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/16/elon-musk... https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/data-centers/elon-musk-... https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1014655584252361

Yes, this is exactly what I was talking about. The datacenter I used to work at ran off the grid and was essentially quiet.

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#216

Post by redlewel »

ransom1538 wrote: post #62
redlewel wrote: post #30

I think this is because the demand is so extreme for datacenters now that companies are building them in a manner that disrupts the environment around them. The newer ones are using on-site generators that are insanely loud and require multiples more power than datacenters have historically needed. For a rack with traditional servers with just RAM/CPU/Drives, 5kW is sufficient in most cases. When you have racks that…

Lol. A data center is no more than a industrial bread bakery (oddly specific i know). The entire anti-data US center is ran by China. EG. You can run a rack of servers in your closet. China is doing a great job.

You need cooling, power, and at the data center I used to work at they literally ran out of power and couldn't get any more from the city. They actually built a new building in the parking lot so they had cause to request more power

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#217

Post by alright2565 »

sabujp wrote: post #10

most americans say not in my backyard to more housing in their backyard too, but i digress.

I don't want a data center in my back yard because I do want housing in my back yard.

Once a data center shows up, that plot of land is locked out of more productive development for decades.

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#218

Post by Casteil »

aschla wrote: post #157

The datacenter outrage is mislabeled. It's actually zoning outrage, caused by local governments that aren't taking their citizen's concerns seriously. It just so happens that datacenters are the hottest (no pun intended) industrial construction option right now.

There's more to it than that. They're not just obnoxious to exist in the vicinity of, they also drive up local energy prices.

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#219

Post by I-M-S »

titanomachy wrote: post #198
sourcecodeplz wrote: post #186

but what thing would most Americans say "yes! build this in my backyard"?>

A park, a public recreation centre, an elementary school, a cute coffee shop… You know, human stuff.

All these things have been vehemently opposed by NIMBYs:

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapleRidge/comments/1ewgim0/maple_r...

2. https://nationalpost.com/life/the-important-questions-is-it-...

3. https://jeremyl.substack.com/p/nimbytales-stop-the-sound-of-...

4. https://torontolife.com/city/this-corner-store-owner-spent-y...

Re: Most Americans say "not in my backyard" to AI data centers

#220

Post by abnercoimbre »

WarmWash wrote: post #177
everdrive wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you really think of no other problems in addition to cars?

I know I kicked off this discussion, but I have also bemoaned many times about the anti-car people being quasi religious in their anti-worship of cars. They talk about it like missionaries talk about jesus.

Well that's no different than vegans. We "need them" to preach obnoxiously because cars are presumed indispensable.

Vegans gave us the Impossible Burger, which I'll eat instead of regular burgers when available. What might anti-car people trigger as a positive?

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