Comment on What is the big deal with data centers or whatever? How can they give off pollution? I get it may cause a spike electricity but shouldn't the company give residents a discount for having theirs?

ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That noise pollution bullshit is quite literally the same scare tactics used against wind farms. It’s completely false.

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  • Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Data centres, like other large industrial facilities often have cooling equipment/HVAC installed on the outside of the building.

    That shit is loud if it doesnt have proper sound proofing installed.

    I live about 750m away from a factory that didn’t have the soundproofing until I got the local council enforcement team involved. At my front door and in our bedroom the noise level was averaging around 60db if we left the windows open (which wasnt an option in warm weather).

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    • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You’re proving my point, these datacenters are not any different than almost any other industry. From factories to airports, they’re the same or sometimes worse than datacenters. Yet everyone is screaming about datacenters, despite most of them not even being built near residential areas.

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  • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Except this one isn’t. AC units make a lot of noise. AC units for a server game the size of a mall, make a fuck ton

    A slowly spinning turbine, not so much.

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    • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Do you know what makes a lot of noise? Airports. Trains. Cars. Factories. The AC Unit on your own fucking house.

      We build and operate all of those, even in residential areas.

      Datacenters are not unique, not even the big ones. The noise they put out usually doesn’t travel more than a couple of thousand feet, and the biggest “mall” sized data centers are not being built within a couple of thousand feet of houses.

      Hilariously, some of the largest datacenters like the ones Google has in Ohio had no significant noise complaints until AI noise complaints hit the news. …newalbanyohio.org/resident-questions/

      Over the course of more than 15 years of data center development, specifically, New Albany is only aware of four noise complaints from an operational data center – all of which were resolved within days. In September of 2025, the City received consistent feedback from residents near Google’s New Albany campus about noisy exhaust fans.

      Because it’s BULLSHIT.

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      • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        These LLM datacenters aren’t your average datacenters. They’re not racks of mostly hard drives and cpus, they’re energy hog supercharged gpus that just vomit heat.

        My single gpu PC can raise the temp of my office by like 10°. And it’s not even that impressive of a spec. The standard industrial sized cooling hasn’t cut it for these installations

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  • thermal_shock@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    You’re crazy as shit if you really think that.

    eesi.org/…/communities-are-raising-noise-pollutio…

    I’m not going to do your research, but that link is a good start. Use your brain and stop eating paint chips.

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    • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Here’s some research that shows that Google’s largest datacenters didn’t receive any signficant noise complaints until 2025, despite existing for decades before that.

      …newalbanyohio.org/resident-questions/

      Over the course of more than 15 years of data center development, specifically, New Albany is only aware of four noise complaints from an operational data center – all of which were resolved within days. In September of 2025, the City received consistent feedback from residents near Google’s New Albany campus about noisy exhaust fans.

      Yes, datacenters make Nosie, but so does almost everything else. Airports. Trains. Cars. Factories. The AC Unit on your own fucking house.

      They aren’t special, and they aren’t even particularly bad compare to a lot of the other sources like Airports.

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      • thermal_shock@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yes, datacenters make Nosie, but so does almost everything else. Airports. Trains. Cars. Factories. The AC Unit on your own fucking house.

        These you’re usually aware of when you move in. When you e lived in a place nearly all your life and now you’re subjected to the noise pollution, it’s a big change.

        You can feel however you want, I’m near Ashburn, data center hell, and see it. New buildings popping up next to neighborhoods nearly weekly. Unless you’re near one, you don’t really have a say. NIMBY, right?

        youtu.be/_bP80DEAbuo

        The other question is… Is it worth it? Risk people’s lives so you can generate a funny picture? Where’s the limit? Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. And with the very very limited laws regarding AI currently, and the negative impacts of people’s lives, I’m fully against it.

        We’re the most productive weve every been in all of humanity with the current tools, wtf is AI going to do except help attackers and create more vulnerabilities with “vibe coding”. No thanks.

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      • thermal_shock@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        New Albany DC is not right in the backyard of the neighborhoods either. Take a look at this one - maps.app.goo.gl/12D3xW1iPBjKKSRXA

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        Then all the others surrounding it…

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