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No Data Centers in My Backyard

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Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#71

Post by voidUpdate »

> "The EMF reader is shakier, going haywire under the crackling power lines, then settling down a few steps away"

That kind of statement really bothers me. Is it measuring the magnetic fields or RF emissions? If it's RF, what frequency? If the EMF reader is picking up radio waves, I'm not exactly concerned. Visible light would be weird. X-rays would be very concerning. Is it just picking up the 50/60Hz power line? That's all around you in your house anyway. If you just don't like power lines, say that

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#72

Post by blitzar »

mirzap wrote: post #25
rimbo789 wrote: post #2

Solid article. Outlines well why no one wants these things. I hope it helps more communities fight these and ensure almost none get built

The majority of people opposed AC current, cars, steam engines, rail tracks, airplanes, computers, the internet, and so on. There was always irrational fear present with new tech advances. People opposing data centers will not look any less foolish than those who opposed AC current.

There were even some complete and utter fools who said Asbestos wasnt all that.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#73

Post by ianm218 »

ModernMech wrote: post #57
ianm218 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the data center was paying a decent amount of taxes surely it would help though right? In theory the taxes would go towards pro social uses.

A school and hospital would do that more than a data center tho. Look at Merced California, used to be a nowhere destination. They built a UC there and now it’s a place students, PhDs and MDs from around the world want to move to. If UC Merced were a data center it would attract no one, it would drain and pollute the lake, and Merced CA would still be a nowhere destination.

We’re talking about rural Wisconsin - there is no world where you need to make a trade off between having school and a data center. Put a school in one field and a data center in a field further away. It just seems like you should tax the data center and then build a school or whatever else you think would help the local economy.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#74

Post by user43928 »

deadbunny wrote: post #37
decimalenough wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they "far worse"? Steam trains are noisy, polluting, require tons of coal, kill animals and people in their way, and crash fairly regularly (when built with 1800s technology). A data center is a big grey box that sits there humming quietly, and that's it. They do require power and lots of it, but unlikely steam engines they'll happily use solar, nuclear or anything else.

96db is quiet? https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-n...

The posted article measured 67db, the sound of a lively conversation, next to the data center.

I am interested to learn where the 96db comes from.

I see only vague claims about up to 96db inside of a server rack, but could not locate a concrete measurement or method used to determine this number.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#75

Post by bob001 »

YackerLose wrote: post #68
bob001 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like a evil monster. I tend to like not fearing starvation every year, not fearing freezing to death every year and not having the vast majority of my kids die. Industrialization led to all that.

Post-industrialization, AI-fication, Human Replacement (whatever it ought to be called) could take that all away.

I didn't make the analogy to railroads. I'm just pointing out that its a terrible one if you want to use it to argue against AI.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#76

Post by mapontosevenths »

deadbunny wrote: post #37
decimalenough wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they "far worse"? Steam trains are noisy, polluting, require tons of coal, kill animals and people in their way, and crash fairly regularly (when built with 1800s technology). A data center is a big grey box that sits there humming quietly, and that's it. They do require power and lots of it, but unlikely steam engines they'll happily use solar, nuclear or anything else.

96db is quiet? https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-n...

I stopped reading this a few lines in at: "Because there is a lack of reliable data from sound level meters ..."

A decibel meter is about $20 on Amazon, often cheaper. I dont know what their agenda is, but they've got one.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#77

Post by ModernMech »

ofrzeta wrote: post #50
deadbunny wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which would be a good argument if the datacenters actually paid any taxes. They shop around for tens to hundreds of millions in tax breaks from officials who believe the lies like "we'll create thousands of jobs!".

TFA cites "Each project requires thousands of skilled workers during the two to six year construction period (nearly 10,000 in Mount Pleasant)" so maybe it's not totally fiction (at least during build time).

My sister dates a guy who works on these kinds of projects. He’s based out of Chicago, and goes to remote places like Idaho or Ohio to build them. They put him up in cheap temporary housing, I guess that generates some local money, but he’s very quickly moving on to the next job. They’re not hiring locals for these tasks, they don’t have the skills. The people who are benefitting are mostly local landlords.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#78

Post by skywhopper »

comrade1234 wrote: post #11

I have a property in NW Wisconsin. It's incredibly poor there - it seems like most people working age are on disability - the new form of welfare. Money is earned mostly in summer and hunting seasons. It's pretty depressing. Lots of alcohol problems. I hired someone to clear some trees and make lumber out of them once and he showed up for the job three months later. At least he showed up though. Weirdest thing - he n…

“Disability, the new form of welfare”? How old are you exactly?

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#79

Post by ungreased0675 »

A good portion of this movement is irrational and driven by viral media. Last week a coworker was talking about how unbearably loud data centers are. I asked them if our parking lot is loud. (There’s a decent sized server floor in our building and a bunch of cooling equipment in the parking lot.) They had never noticed the cooling system.

On the other hand, my city gave the local data centers big tax breaks to come here. In the last couple years my property taxes have increased significantly along with my electricity bill. It seems obvious that I’m subsidizing the local data center. There’s probably a couple dozen people who work there, so it’s not a realistic employment opportunity for me or anyone I know. I’m not anti-tech at all, but I wish the city hadn’t made the deal they did. Perhaps big tech could be less parasitic and contribute beneficially to society?

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#80

Post by mapontosevenths »

inigyou wrote: post #51
mapontosevenths wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in a data center for a decade. None of the neighbors even knew what it was. One actually stopped me to ask. It was very loud inside, but you couldn't hear it from outside unless the power failed and the generators came on.

The new AI ones are built below minimum standards as a cash grab and they somehow manage to be as loud as jet engines. I have no idea how they manage to achieve that, but I try to avoid denying reality. I agree that an ordinary non-AI data center is no worse than an office building without the people, but that isn't what's happening right now.

> somehow manage to be as loud as jet engines

Thats what anti-AI activists say. A decibel meter is about $20. For some reason the people in those videos never have one.

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