I live in an area where one of these has caused state level political drama in Michigan. Many of my family members love to weigh in when we gather and I’m struggling to understand the animosity.

The arguments I frequently hear are:

1) It will jack up our electric rates. From the same people who will NIMBY solar and battery all day long.

2) It uses all of our water.

3) The dust and construction traffic is terrible and it looks terrible.

4) It’s massive and noisy.

I’m struggling because the only item I can seemingly validate is electricity cost.

There is water usage but it seems heavily tied to the electrical generation. Cooling is a one time consumption and annual top off. Which as I mentioned, these same people will tell you solar and battery are no good.

For the eyesore and size etc, it way out of town, when it’s done not many will work there, and noise, they’ve built a hill around it and it won’t use on site electrical generation.

I just don’t get the hate. The electrical stuff is a challenge but was going to be no matter what. AI just accelerated it. Maybe I need to go see some other sites to see how bad it is.

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delichon 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The noise part isn't tough to validate. I would consider this intolerable.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/no-one-live-video-shows-...

	▲	rmason 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Actually there is an alternative to noise and that is the closed loop liquid cooling. I have visited one of those and there is virtually no noise outside the facility. Inside it was loud like any other data center that I have visited. People walk by it every day and I'd bet they aren't even aware its a data center.

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rapsey 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

One of the biggest arguments against is the incredible noise pollution. If it uses a natural gas turbine it is like being next to a jet engine.

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bronco21016 7 hours ago | parent [-]

First, I operate turbine engines so I’m around them a lot. I also used to live near a Williams Intl plant where cruise missile turbines were tested. I hear you. Barely. You see my hearing is poor from the turbine engines.

They’re loud and I wouldn’t want one running continuously around me.

The point is though, I haven’t been able to find indication that they will be used for this DC. Much of the drama surrounding this DC is because the utility pushed approval through then went had a $500 mil capital improvement rate hike.

I acknowledge the affect on electrical rates is a problem. But this DC has become a flashpoint in Michigan and I’m just not sure I follow why it’s so awful overall.

	▲	alephnerd 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Additionally, for DCs, the math only really works out with scaled out renewable energy like grid solar - most DC programs and electric buildouts are now using DC load requirements to justify renewable buildouts now that the IRA isn't functional.