As someone who’s lived in and near Loudoun county for well over two decades, it’s very difficult to take the anti-data center arguments at all seriously. It’s all coming from people who never heard the phrase “data center” before six months ago.
The moral panic over data centres is foolish
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Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#62> just about everything in modern life, from streaming Netflix to running a dishwasher, consumes water at levels that can be portrayed as wasteful by hair-shirt environmentalists. Ad-hominems in an Economist article. This reads more like an opinion piece than reporting. There are plenty of documented problems with water usage of data centres. Some can use it efficiently but it costs more to do so and many (most?) do…
If people really cared about water usage, they'd be trying to shut down golf courses instead of data centers.
Why not both?
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#63I have a lot of left leaning non-tech friends. They are all very much against AI data centers. I've built AI data centers, and I keep trying to educate them, but they just won't listen. The water is mostly part of a closed system. Sure, you need a lot to build one, but once it's running it's pretty water efficient. The lack of green power is a problem, but as the article points out, you now have a large customer subs…
> The noise is an issue, I will admit that. As is the fact that a lot of the power is coming from non-green sources. But the government could easily fix these problems with regulations that apply broadly, not just to datacenters. Soooo You're building them, and you're agreeing that the biggest points of criticism are valid. But.. some handwaving that the government should do something about it and also others are too…
I don't do that anymore since I got laughed at by coworkers when I suggested we focus on using green power and reducing noise. So yes, my conscience is clear.
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#64I have a lot of left leaning non-tech friends. They are all very much against AI data centers. I've built AI data centers, and I keep trying to educate them, but they just won't listen. The water is mostly part of a closed system. Sure, you need a lot to build one, but once it's running it's pretty water efficient. The lack of green power is a problem, but as the article points out, you now have a large customer subs…
Keep trying to educate them how? By your own admission data centers:
* use a lot of water to build one
* the power is a problem
* the noise is an issue
* the power is coming from non-green sources
* the government could “easily” fix all this with regulations
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#65The article dismisses everything without sourcing anything.
US electricity is 40% more expensive since 2022 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU000072610
Some AI datacenters can indeed be heard a mile away https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/28/datacenters-...
Amazon's new Texas AI data center could become the biggest CO2 polluter in the US https://www.techradar.com/pro/amazons-new-texas-ai-data-cent...
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#66It means that it works.
What does "it works" mean in this context? Are we prioritizing short-term political wins at cost of long-term competitiveness? Why are non-Western populations so excited by Ai while the West is eating fud? I suspect the data center thing has become popular because it's been a long time since people have felt like they can effect change in government policy. Details and nuance are irrelevant, there are larger, underly…
The West is not a single monolith. Attitudes towards data centers vary from country to country. As does the perception of how much influence people have over the government.
The actual issue, as far as I see it, is the financialization of capitalism. When businesses prioritize creating value to the shareholders over creating value to the society, people naturally care less about their success. The degree of financialization also varies from country to country.
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#67I have a lot of left leaning non-tech friends. They are all very much against AI data centers. I've built AI data centers, and I keep trying to educate them, but they just won't listen. The water is mostly part of a closed system. Sure, you need a lot to build one, but once it's running it's pretty water efficient. The lack of green power is a problem, but as the article points out, you now have a large customer subs…
Maybe that is because you are the one not listening. You even note the problems, but then wave them away saying that "the government could fix them." So have the government fix those problematic regulations first, and then the AI centres can re-apply for permission.
I'm saying the people who are affected need to lobby their own local governments, because the companies will never do the right thing until they are forced to do so.
But what people are most upset about are water and power, which are the two least problematic things about datacenters.
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#68I was actually pretty worried that the anti-datacenter backlash would stunt and important industry (for the US). But I think the effect will be that the companies building them will "sweeten" the deal for the local towns where they are building -- probably by way of taxes. And while that will be a drag on their development (by adding costs), the scale won't be bad enough to really hurt. And in that sense, everyone wi…
> "sweeten" the deal for the local towns where they are building
Yes. And datacenter companies have to foolish to slow-walk doing this. When you are building a 10 to 50 billion dollar construction project, it may be worth giving the local town 100 million (plus 10k directly to every resident) to do with as they please, and it would certainly grease the wheels.
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#69what about the videos of residents showing decibel meters going off and water pressure dropping? just an anecdote but what exactly do local residents gain here? a handful of permanent maintenance jobs?
Of course those are real issues that should be addressed. Just like if a factory producing bicycles is running all night and keeping you awake. But it's not something that should be concerning for anyone outside the area. It's not an existential crisis, just a local nuisance.
> But it's not something that should be concerning for anyone outside the area.
Of course. Esp. for the bigger datacenters which generate their own power and release large amounts of emissions to the atmosphere.
It's good that that air never moves and all this emission stays inside the cube formed by the ground, four borders of the datacenter and personal airspace ceiling prescribed by the governments.
Given that the datacenter operators run air purifiers and give the filtered out emissions to government (or licensed 3rd parties) for conversion to carbon credits, there's no harm done.
Just some local noise nuisance, and maybe some heat, but all of them are manageable. Residents can use earplugs and more powerful air conditioners to restore or surpass their previous life quality.
This is not only progress, but how one changes the world for the better.
Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish
#70I have a lot of left leaning non-tech friends. They are all very much against AI data centers. I've built AI data centers, and I keep trying to educate them, but they just won't listen. The water is mostly part of a closed system. Sure, you need a lot to build one, but once it's running it's pretty water efficient. The lack of green power is a problem, but as the article points out, you now have a large customer subs…
Cool. Then then you live next to one.
Great point, we shouldn't do jet engine testing either because obviously we need to put that smack dab in the middle of your local cul-de-sac and it can't be put anywhere else.