Re:Data centers need power – lower income, rural residents p...
by unethical_ban on Thursday November 12, 2026 @03:59PM
(#50474190)
I agree that datacenters should be treated like industrial sites. Most people wouldn't want a micro oil refinery or machining factory put up 300 meters from their house. Regulate datacenters like we would a factory. Require them to account for their inputs and their waste outputs, and prohibit them if noise levels are too high or if a concentration of them affects the local climate through heat waste.
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Re:Data centers need power – lower income, rural residents p...
by consensus1 on Thursday November 12, 2026 @05:07PM
(#50475006)
They have no waste output.
Re:Data centers need power – lower income, rural residents p...
by p_l on Thursday November 12, 2026 @05:36PM
(#50475377)
While I agree on noise, heat output tends to be comparable with a large shopping mall, and they use way less of all other local resources (assuming they are paying market rates for electricity etc. and not some bribe-level "tax break")
Noise requires certain extra investment at building time but can be very much mitigated below 40dB. At mid-scales (12~15 MW usable power) you can have a datacenter pretty much beside residential building and it will be the quieter one.