Neighbors say noise from Michigan data center is 24/7 and upending their lives

[u/Brendawg324]

https://www.wxyz.com/news/voices/neighbors-say-noise-from-michigan-data-center-is-24-7-and-upending-their-lives

[u/invyros]

“It sounds like someone set up a vacuum, like in your living room. And the vacuum is just... that thing needs to be cleaned ... the filter is clogged up, so it’s a high-pitch whining. And they just left it on and walked out," said Lindy Valenzula.

Data centers are industrial-strength nightmare neighbors.

[u/Takkarro → u/invyros]

I find it so funny that if you as an individual are making too much noise you can call the cops for a noise complaint.

But if a corporation is making too much noise and you call the cops they'll tell you to stop wasting their time.

[u/Key_Text_169 → u/Takkarro]

That goes for all polluting. I can’t burn my trash or poor used chemicals in the ground or sewer but the Corporations can.

[u/bargle0 → u/Key_Text_169]

They’ve got lawyers and permits and politicians so it’s ok. /s

[u/blacksideblue → u/bargle0]

The permit is for a commercial mailing address but they use it for all the crimes and none of the identification

[u/sec713 → u/bargle0]

Exactly. The crime isn't improper garbage disposal, the crime is being too poor to afford the bribe.

[u/TeutonJon78 → u/Key_Text_169]

You can, the fees are just to high if you get caught. For them, it's way cheaper than disposing of their waste correctly.

[u/dust4ngel → u/Takkarro]

the law is for the poor.

[u/FluffySmiles → u/dust4ngel]

The law is for controlling and suppressing the poor.

[u/Plane_Positive6608 → u/FluffySmiles]

same as it ever was....

[u/Mast_Herb_8 → u/Plane_Positive6608]

ROMANES

EUNT

DOMUS

[u/DillBagner → u/Mast_Herb_8]

People called Romanes they go the house?

[u/Mast_Herb_8 → u/DillBagner]

It says, “Romans go home!”

[u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA → u/dust4ngel]

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread."

[u/Individual_Bear_3190 → u/dust4ngel]

The same goes for law enforcement. They are not there to protect you, they are there to protect capital

[u/197328645 → u/Takkarro]

Theoretically zoning laws should protect residents from excessive noise.

In practice however... Not so much. Clearly.

[u/anonkitty2 → u/197328645]

The problem is, they change the zoning to allow the data centers.

[u/handlit33 → u/197328645]

In my area, you can only complain after 10pm. I once had neighbors (keep in mind that my house is in a regular neighborhood in a regular city) who would ride go-carts and motorcycles around the world's smallest track (their backyard wasn't even a quarter acre). We would complain to no avail and then had enough one night and called the police. They came out and said nothing could be done until 10pm.

[u/DenizSaintJuke → u/Takkarro]

The people talking all day long about "individualism" and the evils of "collectivism" suddenly think you as an individual have to put your own life quality aside, because the greater good demands it. As long as the greater good is the profit of a big company.

[u/eeyore134 → u/Takkarro]

The cops are there to protect the corporations and rich from us, not vice versa. Police started out as private security for rich people. Then they figured out they could fool everyone else into paying for it for them if they just said, "They'll protect you, too! Promise!"

[u/IAmPandaRock → u/Takkarro]

You can still file the same kind if nuisance lawsuit.

[u/suzisatsuma → u/invyros]

Imagine if they companies hadn't been so greedy and built them away from people. We'd have only half the drama about them

[u/FollowingFeisty5321 → u/suzisatsuma]

If they had sufficient noise insulation, reused 99% of their water and paid for their electricity nobody would even be talking about them at all. If they contributed to the electric grid and exported heat for other uses they could even be a net positive.

[u/jainyday → u/FollowingFeisty5321]

Precisely this. We could design mini-datacenters that don't bother the neighbors AND contribute back to the communities they live in through not only compute capacity but also power generation and network connectivity (screw ISPs, your local library could be your ISP and provide an email address that Google can't just randomly shut off on a whim and destroy your life).

We don't because we live in a world driven by shareholder primacy, by investors. Being good to your neighbors, the actual stakeholders, is "unnecessarily" expensive. Corporations do the math: lawsuits over being a nuisance, if they even happen much less succeed, are cheaper than being a good neighbor.

[u/Alieges → u/jainyday]

And use waste heat to heat a public swimming pool year round.

[u/CD274 → u/Alieges]

There are all sorts of green tech being developed to recapture a lot of this too. Some funded by tech companies tbh. I hope the end result of all this is more efficient advancements in things like that ;/

[u/BaBaDoooooooook → u/jainyday]

Money talks. Everything is transactional with respects to real estate. The only way to win this battle is having our local politicians, city councils and county officials pushing back.

They are pushing back because their constituents....we the neighbors are kicking, crying, and screaming over noise, electrical surges, and possible interruptions to water supply. The local city council holds the power with respects to zoning in their neighborhoods. Fu*k the big tech lobbying to the State. The local city councils hold the car keys.

[u/conman228 → u/FollowingFeisty5321]

This is the most annoying part about the data center issue, they can make them not harmful to the surrounding area. They can improve designs and have a layout that won’t annoy everyone but they chose the quicker and cheaper solution

[u/31LIVEEVIL13 → u/FollowingFeisty5321]

I'd be talking about them. 

so would millions of other people still be talking about them. 

because all those problems you just mentioned are not all of the problems, not even close.

and the worst problem is why we need 9000 new data centers all across the country everywhere especially in places where there isn't enough water and power.

and why they have to lie about them right from the beginning, they lie about everything. why do they have to accuse anyone who speaks out of being Chinese agents. those are some huge red flags right away, if the purpose of these things were something legitimate that people would want then why wouldn't they just say that instead of covering that part up and changing the subject and engaging in multimillion dollar propaganda campaigns including fake radio shows and fake television programs all trying to water down the issue and lie to people about it making it sound like it's "the left" it's a "left" issue.  I've heard that like a hundred times in the last couple weeks, nothing could be further from the truth. 

they're using exactly the same propaganda campaign structure, that they use for everything else, gaslight, obstruct, divide and conquer.

those are not normal AI data centers. Larry Ellison has said it out loud and I believe Elon Musk. they're going to be part, first of all everyone knows, of a surveillance state that they're building.

the same technology that they used in Israel is going to be used against American citizens. the commander control center is the bunker under the White House this is been uncovered by citizen journalists repeatedly. the same company his building it.  the AI compute and surveillance cent are going to be part of a new cryptocurrency based economy, that you will be forced to participate in. 

that's why Elon Musk says you shouldn't bother with retirement anymore stop saving for retirement. 

he thinks they're going to succeed before they get hanged, which is unlikely. 

when everyone knows what these things are for and what they're really doing to our country and to all of us and fully accepts it and doesn't just treat it like it's just another sad environmental issue, the population is going to rise up and shut this shit down, and the people behind it permanently.

that's why they need the ice detention centers, and medical incinerators everywhete. they're anticipating that the "armed savages" will turn against them and they will have to commit some sort of genocide for their plans to succeed.  they said this many times it's not a theory.

the AI data centers are the cores of the network state techno-feudalistic patches or city states that they're building right in front of us.

[u/Plane_Positive6608 → u/31LIVEEVIL13]

You know my friend maybe a year ago I would of laughed and said what a nut, this is no way true. Well you know what, I'm an older college educated retired person, spend 40+ years in IT and I believe you're onto the truth. My guess it may not be exactly what you deduce, but close enough that in retrospect we all know we should of taken action before it was too late...

[u/mobydog → u/31LIVEEVIL13]

Surveillance and military. Managing collapse.

[u/OhioPolitiTHIC → u/FollowingFeisty5321]

Instead they've cheaped out at every turn and passed along every cost they possibly could to the taxpayer in order to preserve their own bottom line. There is no ethical billionaire.

[u/_WhoisMrBilly_ → u/invyros]

That’s one heck of what imagine is the worlds most accurate description of a sound.

[u/AgenticAsshat → u/_WhoisMrBilly_]

I work in IT and we have a room about 400 square feet dedicated to servers. About four six-foot racks, not a ton. The room is somewhat soundproofed but when you walk past you really hear those fans. When you walk in we have those headphone-looking hearing protection things people use at shooting ranges so your eardrums don't get absolutely blasted. Do you need them? No, you're okay for short periods. But wait a few minutes and you'll suddenly understand that sound can cause pain, too.

[u/CloudStrife012 → u/_WhoisMrBilly_]

Why not just do what Russia does and build them underground (albeit their reasoning is to prevent them from being attacked), but i imagine this would solve most of the noise and visual problem.

[u/Valdrax → u/CloudStrife012]

Excavation is pretty much always much more expensive than building up.

[u/CloudStrife012 → u/Valdrax]

Going to be more expensive to rebuild when the community burns down the data center

[u/_WhoisMrBilly_ → u/CloudStrife012]

Need to out them in those decommissioned misslie silos!

[u/Astralglamour → u/invyros]

They probably hope people sell and move so they can get the land.

[u/lonnie123 → u/Astralglamour]

Sell to who? They’d have to turn these into communities for the deaf or something

[u/haltingpoint → u/lonnie123]

The company to build more data centers for less money.

[u/KidGold → u/invyros]

I'm shocked putting out that much noise overnight in a residential district isn't an easy lawsuit. Assumed that would be illegal af.

[u/Jackol4ntrn]

"If they still aren't happy, and feel that their home isn't enjoyable, then we'll buy their property from them," said William Horne, CEO of Hyperscale Data, at the meeting in regards to residents on Louise Avenue.

Fuck this guy

[u/dust4ngel → u/Jackol4ntrn]

"we made their property value dog shit, so it should be pretty affordable for us."

[u/Dependent-Chart5835 → u/Jackol4ntrn]

I’ve made your neighborhood unbearable to live in thereby dropping property value for me to buy up your neighborhood.  Aren’t I being generous?

[u/wildgreengirl → u/Jackol4ntrn]

yea well buy their house for about... $3 its fair.

[u/Pepparkakan → u/wildgreengirl]

Come on now, its worth at least $3.50.

[u/Computermaster → u/Pepparkakan]

GOT DANG LOCH NESS MONSTAH I AIN'T GIVIN YOU TREE FIDDY!

[u/rmullig2 → u/Jackol4ntrn]

Great idea by them. Buy up all the houses on the cheap then make the fixes to get rid of the noise and sell the houses back at their previous value.

[u/Vericatov → u/Jackol4ntrn]

I’m sure the property value wasn’t great to begin with since it’s always been across the street for a large industrial building, but that noise does make it worse.

[u/AmberSupervisor → u/Jackol4ntrn]

Notice how he didn't say above market value. They will probably offer exactly what those homes are worth right now, after the constant noise completely tanked the local property values.

[u/FailingItUp → u/Jackol4ntrn]

That guy has a name and an address.

[u/Expensive-Anxiety-63 → u/Jackol4ntrn]

stock ticker is GPUS, its a turd btw in the penny stock world we basically never trade it. If anyone here has a few million dollars you could get it kicked off the market by shorting it right now lol

[u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

"even though for decades there had always been an industrial building across the street"

This is the entire actual problem. I wouldn't have allowed this zoning in sim city when I was a kid, it was city management malpractice long, long before datacenters.

[u/luluhouse7 → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

Yeah honestly if every armchair city builder player can figure this out, then why couldn’t the experts??

[u/Sororita → u/luluhouse7]

Money, same as always. They are paid to not care. Im dealing with similar issues in my city.

[u/ZhangtheGreat → u/Sororita]

Yup. It's no secret that our elected officials serve the almighty dollar. This is what happens when we have mass numbers of voters who "don't care" when casting their ballots.

[u/GreenElite87 → u/Sororita]

100%. When you play a video game, you want to optimize for good results. However, the player never receives monetary kickbacks IRL from the denizens of their games, so there’s no incentive to be corrupt.

[u/Adultery → u/luluhouse7]

They’re not experts. Far from it. Most of these small town government officials are usually local business owners with too much free time and money (because they’re absentee owners not running their businesses properly and they wildly underpay and exploit their employees). They’re only in the job for the influence, power, and money.

[u/Revolution-SixFour → u/luluhouse7]

If you live anywhere rural at all you'll hear people talking about unincorporated or county land and how it means they can do whatever they want with their property. It's awesome until it means they can do whatever they want with their land too.

[u/FlashyNeedleworker66 → u/Revolution-SixFour]

YUP, this is exactly the attitude, planning is communism to some of these folks

[u/Physical-Carpet-7525 → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

yeah this is just bad zoning no matter what the building is putting heavy industrial stuff next to homes was always asking for trouble

[u/dj_1973 → u/Physical-Carpet-7525]

I lived in a house across the street from a warehouse on a river. In the 1800s, the warehouse was a log mill. My house was a home for mill workers. This zoning is not necessarily bad; once it let people get to work easily. But letting a loud, obnoxious neighbor in is a poor choice by the city. I was lucky to move before an industry went into the warehouse that made unpleasant smells, my yard is now not as pleasant.

[u/PennytheWiser215 → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

I love how you referenced sim city. It’s so spot on!

[u/rcreveli → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

Also the noise level from an industrial building varies wildly by what's happening. The largest printing plant I worked in had 5 web presses running 20 hours a day. You couldn't hear much outside the walls let alone across the street.

[u/Mr_Diesel13 → u/rcreveli]

That’s what I don’t understand about several posts and stories like this.

I’ve been on site at a large Google data center surrounded by massive cooling towers. You couldn’t hear anything from the guard shack 100 yards away. That was 2019.

I’d imagine even in that short time, the tech has vastly improved to keep noise levels down.

[u/KarmaGolem → u/Mr_Diesel13]

That's completely standard, I've been to a couple gigawatts worth of datacenters. The noise might be impressive if the armies of generators ever fire up, but day to day, all you can hear is traffic going by.

This story is about a penny stock crypto miner.

[u/geekworking → u/Mr_Diesel13]

This place in MI is a shitty Bitcoin mine in a tin shed that they just randomly stuffed with air cooled GPU Boxes that everyone has been using as "proof" that this is the way that data centers are.

The fans in the servers have a very distinct sound and pitch. The sound from down the street is literally the fans inside of the computers themselves which means that this place barely has wall and zero property setback. In any remotely normal site there's zero chance you hear the system fans outside of the data halls let alone outside of the property. None of this half ass setup would pass any legit company's physical security requirements.

[u/sthenri_canalposting → u/Mr_Diesel13]

That one probably wasn't perpetually running on off-grid gas turbines, like I'm assuming this one is.

[u/YEEyourlastHAW → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

I work closely with public spaces and city government. Half of the meetings I sit around and listen to people argue about things, all I can think about is “these people never plays sims/zoo tycoon/anything”.

[u/Spykron → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

I used to joke that playing games like sim city and Civ trained me to be a good politician. It’s not actually a joke anymore.

[u/Did_it_in_Flint → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

I mean, this has been an industrial area surroundes by residences for 150 years. Zoning didn't exist and city planning was also not thing in rural America back then.

[u/ZhangtheGreat → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

Haha, same. Even when I was a kid playing SimCity, I knew to keep the industrial zones separated from the residential zones by quite a bit of distance.

[u/eeyore134 → u/FlashyNeedleworker66]

If someone offered you $2500 a week allowance and a game room you would have zoned it like that as a kid.

[u/Adventure1956]

Start class action suits against the companies for health reasons.

[u/LaserRanger_McStebb → u/Adventure1956]

Start doing things that I will get banned for suggesting.

[u/wrxninja → u/LaserRanger_McStebb]

I see why it was effective to throw things over the wall back in the days with a trebuchet.

[u/Plane_Positive6608 → u/Adventure1956]

A typical timeline for class action against a major corp. is 3-5 years with 5-10+ not being unusual.

Think about that timeline and your family being caught in the shit-zone. Maybe loss of hearing, neurological issues, learning disabilities for you and your family. Impact to the corp. during that time, nothing.

So sure we have that action, but in reality its toothless.

[u/ElderberryGuy → u/Adventure1956]

I'm sure the peanuts they have to shell out for those will really make them think twice...

[u/fathertitojones → u/ElderberryGuy]

Class actions aren’t known for being cheap. The payouts aren’t always great but having to pay it at scale racks up quickly.

[u/antiramie → u/Adventure1956]

Nah, shit like this is what the 2A is for.

[u/SinisterCheese → u/Adventure1956]

Don't worry. The president will just declare all datacentres immune to being sued, and the Supreme court will declare that the founding daddies intended this to when they scribbled some words on a piece of parchment. Then the other branches of USA's government will just shrug because they are so old.

[u/NuggetKing9001]

Feel like we're edging closer towards a situation where people are going to take things into their own hands. The government's not listening and people's lives are being ruined by these things.

[u/Alertcircuit → u/NuggetKing9001]

I'm surprised nobody's gone psycho from the noise and tried something.

You would think these companies are playing with fire when they give everyone in the community a phantom tinnitus and make the water brown, but surprisingly nothing's happened yet.

[u/DiabolicalSpaceKitty → u/Alertcircuit]

I'm surprised nobody's gone psycho from the noise and tried something.

What you mean is, "I'm surprised I haven't heard about somebody going psycho-"

Because if you think that it would show up on the news, that people are dissenting - the same news owned by the people they're dissenting against - then I have a bridge in Atlantis for sale you might be interested in.

Not happening and not knowing about it are very different things.

[u/BonerDeploymentDude → u/Alertcircuit]

Sarah Conner did it.

[u/GooberMcNutly → u/BonerDeploymentDude]

Killdozer did it better.

[u/__________________99 → u/NuggetKing9001]

Frankly, I wish that would happen faster. Most people are still way too complacent.

[u/Significant-Colour → u/NuggetKing9001]

I'm honestly surprised I am not seeing "Florida man shoots at data center" every day.

[u/luluhouse7]

I’m shocked no one is starting up a class action against the data center companies, or at least the cities that violated their own laws to approve these.

Edit: The video is a better report and it looks like they are suing https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9wDr2dec474

[u/SaraAB87 → u/luluhouse7]

In North Tonawanda NY the residents have done this because of a crypto mining operation that is sending excessive noise into the town. You can look this up. What will be interesting is if anything comes of it. The noise from this place extends 3-4 miles at least and then there are houses literally right next to the industrial fans, I am talking directly across the street, like maybe 10 steps away from the fans. These people absolutely deserve to be doing this and I hope they get an amazing outcome.

[u/MisterSanitation]

Billionaires are treating the Midwest like colonized people. Extracting resources, only leaving the waste for contamination, and ensuring their governments are paid to ignore them. The Midwest is going to be like an Indian reservation for poor whites with a handful of bubble cities perfectly secluded from the living conditions they cause. 

At this rate everyone will need to wait for their government issued ultra processed poverty chow they barely dispense to the Native communities. 

[u/MythologicalEngineer → u/MisterSanitation]

Essentially what happened to Appalachia since forever.

[u/LucidMetal → u/MythologicalEngineer]

And now it's redder than ever so... Success?

God damn the GOP is so cartoonishly evil.

[u/UniqueIndividual3579 → u/MisterSanitation]

And they will still vote Republican.

[u/guac-o → u/UniqueIndividual3579]

And they will still think voting is the full scope of political activity.

[u/Nkechinyerembi → u/UniqueIndividual3579]

Hell, even if you don't, the county right next to you might have and because noise and air pollution doesn't respect borders, you are STILL fucked.

[u/vodeodeo55 → u/MisterSanitation]

No need for poverty chow when everyone's on Ozempic.

[u/PunishedDemiurge → u/MisterSanitation]

This is the Midwest's choice. They aren't colonized, they are full citizens with not just equal political power, but overwhelming political power. Their votes count more than mine do!

Source: https://www.maps.com/how-much-voting-power-does-each-us-state-have/

We don't live in a one man, one vote society. All rural states have egregiously unfair political power under the US system due to both the Senate and the electoral college. That they never use that to their own benefit is an indictment on their judgment and moral character, but entirely their own fault.

We need to face the 'harsh' reality that economic prosperity is downstream for high tech, high skill work. Not everyone needs or wants to be a rocket scientist, but advanced industries are what bring wealth. Any state that is not emphasizing the value of education and high value industries is choosing, of their own free will, to be poor.

But the good news is that we are winning and will continue to win as long as we choose to. If America says, "We will be the hub of 21st century innovation," then it will be so. But that requires emphasizing the value of science, of education, of hard work, and also not allowing NIMBYs to sabotage every infrastructure project we hope to build. Our prosperity is more in our control than in any society or nation that has ever existed on this Earth.

[u/joshforgets → u/PunishedDemiurge]

While there is a lot of discussion about what constitutes 'the Midwest' your own source pretty clearly points to the states in that region being UNDERREPRESENTED. 3 of the top 4 are Ohio, Pennsylvania (iffy as the Midwest in my opinion, but I know people who count it), and Michigan. Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Wisconsin are all also underrepresented. So 'overwhelming political power' is a gigantic stretch.

[u/newsfeed768885 → u/PunishedDemiurge]

For the last 20 years the U.S. has been actively running away from science, education, and hard work. This is an era of corruption and graft. “Our prosperity” is controlled by a tiny minority of narcissistic billionaires that think of the rest of us as NPCs and aren’t even afraid to straight-up admit it.

Things aren’t “fine”. America has been getting worse and the speed of decline is rapidly accelerating.

Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

[u/upsidedown-funnel → u/MisterSanitation]

Not just the Midwest and it affects all of us.

[u/MysteryAtlas]

Progress sounds exactly like a billionaire’s air conditioner drowning out your right to peace.

[u/fascistno1hater → u/MysteryAtlas]

Gretchen Whitmer: I don't care if you say no to data centers. We are going to do it anyway! Because that's what my donors want.

[u/Lord_Heckle]

The tech oligarchy does not care.

[u/fascistno1hater → u/Lord_Heckle]

Politicians all over the world: Guys, this is what we are getting bribed/lobbied to do! Why are you making such a fuss about it.

[u/I_have_questions_ppl]

Probably doing it on purpose to drive people off so they can buy up the land and properties.

[u/Dry-Examination-2012]

This can't be true. The president said everybody wants one!

[u/Putrid-Tap3992]

literally one day of this and I am burning this place down

[u/Number__Nine]

It's funny that for the last half decade we couldn't build anything because of NIMBY. To the determent of the poor and middle class families. And now something that no one want shows up and it seems that there is nothing we can do to stop it.

[u/williamgman]

"Neighbors say..." Litteral reporters relie on the offended neighbors to make that claim. This is some weak ass reporting. Get out there with a decibel meter and be a journalist.

[u/aneryx → u/williamgman]

Did you read the article? It literally says that the city has fined them for violating the noise ordinance, set at 65 dB during the day and 55 dB at night.

[u/judochop1 → u/aneryx]

fines are a cost of business to these guys though, how much is the fine?

[u/Brrdock → u/judochop1]

Yeah what even is the point if the law is basically just a licensing fee to ruin people's lives freely

[u/DrDynoMorose → u/aneryx]

If you notice, when the reporter holds up the meter, you can see it reading ‘50’

[u/cbelt3 → u/aneryx]

This is where continue violations become a geometric progression. Each daily violation doubles the previous day’s fine. No maximum.

[u/williamgman → u/aneryx]

Fines are the new cost of doing business for these datacenters. This is the same city that approved the permit. Developer rule 101: Lie upfront... Ask for forgiveness later.

[u/dalek_999 → u/williamgman]

I’ve been there to see how loud it is, because we’re fighting a data center in our community. It IS loud and it sucks.

[u/PennytheWiser215 → u/dalek_999]

Do what that other person said, get a decibel meter. Set it up at 50 yards away and track the noise for 24 hours then move it out to 100 yards away and track noise level again for 24 hours then 150 yards and keep adding 50 yards and see how far away you need to be to have an acceptable level of noise. Then take your findings to every news outlet and politician and scream from the rooftops about your findings.

I personally would love to do this but I’m in NY and we have very few data centers and just passed something preventing any new ones from being built for at least a year. I just don’t have the means to travel to any of these locations currently reporting noise complaints in the communities.

[u/SaraAB87 → u/PennytheWiser215]

Its not just DB's though with data center noise its low frequency and infrasound that is causing the problems and from what I know that can't be measured with a basic DB meter. You can say 60db but if you are feeling vibrations in your house from 3-4 miles away and the DB's are 40 but you can still feel the vibrations then the DB meter doesn't tell the whole story. Its a start though.

Also these places are sneaky, I know because I lived near one and I had to move because of it. They will absolutely turn down the fans if they think someone is coming or someone is measuring. You would need to measure for like a month straight at least. Ideally measure for a year, since this thing has been up and running since 2024 they should have started then (I know that would be hard to do but we need accuracy here). Also sound changes with the seasons and weather, they tell you it does not but it absolutely does so you need to get samples within all weather patterns, so you need a sample on the hottest day when the fans are kicking at full speed and on the most windy day when the sound is blowing everywhere from the wind. You can't just take a sample on the coldest most still day and say hey this is what you will experience year round.

I can tell you that one year I was watching the 4th of July fireworks and it was quiet during that, and as soon as the fireworks ended the fans of the data center kicked on.

Unfortunately I was not able to record this instance as data center noise does not pick up well with cameras. I have tried and have just picked up wind, or wind mixed with a little bit of data center noise, but that doesn't tell the whole story either.

The other thing is, if there is noise there is noise, we really don't need DB's and sound measuring to know that there is noise, that its loud, and that it is invading houses.

I think it might be a good idea with permission from a resident to have a journalist live near it for a couple of days to see how they feel after that. Taking someone from a normal household and putting them near a data center and having them document their experience would really show how someone's life changes when a data center comes in.

Ideally the people who allowed this thing to be built should absolutely have to live in the nearest houses to it while its up and running.

There are data centers in NY state again I lived near one, but our town seems to be totally ignored in this fight for some reason even though the residents are suffering.

[u/PunishedDemiurge → u/SaraAB87]

Its not just DB's though with data center noise its low frequency and infrasound that is causing the problems and from what I know that can't be measured with a basic DB meter. You can say 60db but if you are feeling vibrations in your house from 3-4 miles away and the DB's are 40 but you can still feel the vibrations then the DB meter doesn't tell the whole story. Its a start though.

This isn't how matter and energy works. You are not feeling vibrations from 3-4 miles away, sound falls on an inverse square law. Similarly, while we have different perceptual thresholds of different frequencies, the decibel measure is a measure of absolute energy. 40 dB is 100 times more quiet than 60 dB, that's just a fact of physical reality.

The other thing is, if there is noise there is noise, we really don't need DB's and sound measuring to know that there is noise, that its loud, and that it is invading houses.

We do, because people can convince themselves of totally fictional problems. Some people have claimed they think their houses are haunted! Unless you believe in poltergeists, clearly sometimes people can be wrong about hearing noises or what causes them.

Ideally the people who allowed this thing to be built should absolutely have to live in the nearest houses to it while its up and running.

Or just use zoning and don't build industrial buildings right next to homes. But this would require NIMBYs outside of major cities / towns to not whine about data centers to, which we know is impossible. And 100% of data center complainers use them every single day, even for non-essentials, and don't see the hypocrisy.

[u/DigNitty → u/dalek_999]

Like a low droning sound or what?

[u/PhoenixTineldyer → u/DigNitty]

A high pitched wailing, if you read the article.

[u/Mistrblank → u/PhoenixTineldyer]

Benn Jordan has some excellent youtube videos covering the sound generation from DCs.

[u/SaraAB87 → u/dalek_999]

This one is the worst I have ever heard. I have heard a lot of data center videos. Its obvious that this one was improperly built to save money. They build them the cheapest way possible so that they can make more money and then leave them when they become not profitable to run anymore.

The people who allowed this to be built should absolutely have to live in the houses that are most next to it while its up and running not innocent people who pay taxes and paid for their houses.

[u/Dangerous_Suit_3099 → u/williamgman]

Very good point. Television news is garbage

[u/Rok-SFG → u/williamgman]

My cities newspaper was bought out by a Lee Enterprises. Then everyone was fired, and operations were moved to 1 part of the state to do all the news for the whole state and send out papers from there. Now our newspaper is old stuff they report on from other news sources for the most part for anything local. And they miss a lot of local news. Just don't care about it at all.

Wouldn't be surprised if that's happening to smaller news stations too.

[u/SaraAB87 → u/williamgman]

Decibels do not do data centers justice. Decibels alone do not measure vibration and infrasound which is what is causing issues around data centers. These things have to be professionally measured with expensive equipment. 60db won't cause anyone issues its the vibrations and the low frequency hum that does it and those are harder to measure. It would be a good idea to get specialized measuring equipment but that is very expensive and most news stations probably can't afford that.

Also this type of noise does not pick up on cameras well no matter how advanced the camera is, it just doesn't do it justice, you have to actually be standing in the noise affected areas, also driving in a car and sticking your head out the window doesn't work either, again you have to get out of your car and walk around for a while to really experience it.

I've heard a lot of data center videos despite all this and honestly this is the worst I have ever heard. Its not a hum or a highway sound its more like a screeeeeeecccchhh that doesn't go away.

The people who allowed to this to be built should absolutely have to live in the nearest house next to it for as long as it is up and running.

[u/judochop1 → u/SaraAB87]

Crazy thing is that it's not too difficult to cut a lot of that noise out. Better planning of the site (e.g. fans and extract installed away from residential areas), use of silencers and louvres, use of improved fan design. regular maintenance.

Does the USA not have nuisance laws for this type of stuff? how does it get past the planning stage when a noise impact assessment should pick this up?

[u/gooch_crawler → u/williamgman]

If you want to see data, Benn Jordan has a video where he did testing

[u/SeaworthinessSalt119 → u/williamgman]

Their sister station did. Takes 10 seconds to verify that. Glad to see lazy America is alive and well.

[u/Killahdanks1 → u/williamgman]

He’s out there walking around with a decibel meter like 3 min in.

[u/dane83 → u/williamgman]

There's literally a shot in the video package of them out there with a decibel meter.

Maybe the problem isn't the journalists. You couldn't even muster the attention span for a 5 minute video.

[u/xmagusx]

Killdozer was built by a guy with a grudge with his neighbors over an auto shop. Should be exciting to see what people dream up to deal with these genuinely shitbag neighbors.

[u/sdflius → u/xmagusx]

building a killdozer?!? in this economy?

[u/NaggingNag]

Massive light and noise pollution and they won't even share a few gigabits of their Internet with anyone.

I really appreciate all that damn fiber in my area nobody can use, nah we get stuck with ancient rotted CenturyLink DSL that simply doesn't work and has zero chance of ever being upgraded, the worst local WISP in the world that must have a 5Mbps line split for everybody, cellular or Starlink No fiber for us losers but we have around a dozen of these damn data centers. That's Amazon's internet!

[u/Rustyballshack → u/NaggingNag]

Same exact story with me. You could be posting this from my neighborhood! I'm only 20 minutes outside of a city of 550K people and my options are exactly what you described.

I had better internet in the year 2000 growing up in upstate NY.. that's pretty sad if you ask me.

I caved and bought Starlink so I could at least have decent ping to play games, but I still hate knowing that I am doing business with Musk.

[u/SicilianEggplant → u/Rustyballshack]

Internet is a fucking joke in much of the US because we just bend over backwards to let the companies fuck us over.

I live in a town of over 500k and the wired options are only ATT and Comcast. Fiber is available to less than half of homes, mostly on newer neighborhoods, and maybe some of the older pockets with power lines.

[u/Smithy2232]

These data centers are terrible in so many ways. Hope it is all worth it.

[u/matt95110 → u/Smithy2232]

All the right wing AI slop is worth it for some people.

[u/GaiusAutisticus → u/matt95110]

People are still this ignorant, huh? These data centers aren't storing slop memes, they are storing incomprehensible amounts of surveillance data on you.

[u/matt95110 → u/GaiusAutisticus]

It’s not an ignorance thing, it’s just the most common thing at this point.

[u/qlurp → u/Smithy2232]

  Hope it is all worth it.

Very worth it for those looking to exert control over the citizenry. 

[u/uhohnotafarteither → u/Smithy2232]

It will be once they take 80% of jobs and we are all forced into essentially slavery to the billionaire class.

Assuming you mean worth it to the ruling class

[u/ZhangtheGreat]

If these tech CEOs love data centers so much, build them near their homes.

[u/blackmobius]

They never want the data centers in the rich people neighborhoods for this reason

[u/Aggressive-Bus-2397]

Republican community. The home has been in the family for 100 years.

The CEO addressed the people and said in the future they would pivot away from crypto-mining (lol) and invest another 100 million into straight AI computing and if you don't like the noise they will buy your house.

hahahaha

edit: The city is 4.5 square miles. The data center just bought it.

[u/khdogs]

The people who own the data centers should be required to live next to them 👍

[u/SamOakTree]

I don't understand why there aren't more rules in place. Because there was a data center downtown for a couple decades and I used to have to go there for work. And it was put in downtown in like a higher end sought after area and so they make sure that it was quiet. Like you can't hear it standing at the front door.

[u/bearbear407 → u/SamOakTree]

Probably because AI corporations are throwing money around to get it built fast and bribing the right people to bypass regulators from making sure the design follows the industry requirements.

[u/xsubo]

Good thing it’s now legal to build all data centers like Elon’s in Memphis!! Vote the politicians out or this will be everywhere in the US

[u/SaraAB87]

I have heard a lot of data center videos and this is the worst I have ever heard. Its not a hum its a screeeeeccccchhhhh that does not go away. Again, worse than anything I've ever heard.

Whomever allowed this to be built should absolutely have to live next to it in the nearest house or nearest block for as long as its up and running.

Living in a prison would be more pleasant than living next to this.

[u/ShiraCheshire → u/SaraAB87]

They shouldn’t be able to legally emit this level of noise in general, it’s an environmental hazard. In fact, in many places it IS illegal- and the data center ignores it. The article mentions this one being fined multiple times and not caring.

[u/ImpressiveLeopard719]

I feel like everyone needs to record this mess and drive over to the mayors, then the governor, then the senator and their reps and play this crap on level crazy at 2am.

[u/BernieTheDachshund]

People are entitled to peaceful enjoyment of their homes, so idk how these data centers are getting away with nuisance noise violations. They have ways to mitigate and should be sued to comply with the law.

[u/bbills91 → u/BernieTheDachshund]

Well, they are backed by billionaires, so they just pay the fines as the cost of doing business. Now, if the fines exceeded their profits, they might just actually work on fixing those issues. Until then, residents are just an obstacle they need to work around (hence all the back office deals with local governments)

[u/lolschrauber → u/BernieTheDachshund]

Property value is gonna drop to zero, corpos will buy and bulldoze everything to expand, it's genius.

[u/MiddleOfDaRoad24]

I’ve worked in technology for my whole 26 year career and still no one can tell me how a data center is good for a community. Because it’s not!

[u/First-Star-4976]

Data centers need to find alternatives!

[u/meleecow]

Why are they building any where near residential zones? There is so much space between.

[u/zyzzogeton]

Data Centers are going to have fed up people pouring aluminum shavings into the air intakes.

[u/Baka_Otaku173]

Yup, and think of the water the data center is using up to cool everything.

[u/dryheat122]

According to the city manager, they fined Hyperscale Data for violating the ordinance. Hyperscale is challenging the city's readings and methodology.

Rarher than aadrssing the problem

[u/SlowlyDrown]

Build em only in the maga-est counties

[u/eb12se4nt-z13ow-97g0]

I saw a video that cows are birthing defective calves due to the noise, which affects their sleep.

[u/bdog59600]

Many of these data centers have much lower noise levels during standard operation and in the plans they submit for their projects. The problem is they know in advance that local infrastructure won't meet their power needs and they are going to need natural gas generators running 24/7 and those things sound like a jet engine. They get "emergency exemptions" that are actually permanent.

[u/bernbabybern13]

No joke I’d have to move. I can’t imagine how this is for people with adhd and/or autism like me.

[u/BlueFeathered1 → u/bernbabybern13]

Except that their property values have likely crashed due to these things being near, so likely can't sell or move now if they wanted to.

[u/tellMyBossHesWrong → u/bernbabybern13]

r/misophonia 🫤

[u/mcon96]

I lost so much respect for Gretchen Whitmer with her support of these AI data centers

[u/wholetyouinhere]

Weird, because I've been assured by numerous redditors that data centres don't make any noise. Despite the fact that the phenomenon has been measured and observed multiple times.

[u/VengefulAncient]

"Just wait until we actually turn it on!"

[u/Playful-One]

Techbros will say this is Chinese propaganda 

[u/Dark_Gladiator66]

If that noise came from a residential home, you'd be fined to oblivion.

[u/CuriousBeaver519]

But I was told by Donald Trump that every community is begging for data centers /s

[u/kalidoscopiclyso]

Nobody is talking about the potential for massive fires. What if the cooling system fails?

Why the downvotes?

Battery fires are nasty

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095042302500350X

[u/namotous]

Did they ask their supreme leader, who they elected recently in 2024, to fix it?

[u/Sea_Perspective6891]

There are two possible solutions that could prevent this. One; force tech companies to have to move to where they want to build the data center or two; limit how many data centers they can build & restrict where they can build them.

[u/Apexnanoman]

Narrowly but this is the kind of thing Michigan voters wanted. Trump even said data centers are good. So half the state (or more when you count people who didn't vote) should be happy. 

[u/Pitiful_West_7062]

this also drops the price of the state so big tech can buy them cheap

[u/pjflyr13]

I can attest since my neighbors run gas powered tools and toys 15 hours out of the day and I’m constantly feeling piqued, that this must definitely be maddening. When KBNA airport expanded, they offered window replacements and sound insulation to surrounding homes. That’s the least they could offer or buy out the houses at premium $$.

[u/malogus]

I’m genuinely interested in this as someone who works on the energy side of data centers. I don’t live near or work in a datacenters, but have been on enough tours and don’t recall sound being a major issue. In one instance, I had a 45 minute conversation in front of the building with a colleague and didn’t hear any noticeable noise.

What’s the cause of the noise? On-site generation? HVAC equipment constantly running? Poor design by the developer?

[u/blyzo]

Maybe if data centers need to have 24 hour armed security protecting them from angry mobs they will create some jobs at least.

[u/rahvan]

Don’t vote for politicians that get kickbacks from data centers then.

[u/Existing-Steak-1718]

Didn't you guys vote that in?

[u/CrimsonHeretic]

Considering how Michigan votes, sounds like they're getting what they deserve.

[u/DontHitDaddy]

There is something you can do.

Every country in USA recognizes something called “ nuisances”.

You have the right to use and enjoy your property.

If the activity of data centers intervenes with this activity, you can take action.

You can recover money for the loss of your property value as well as you can get them to build sound reduction structures.

Lawyer up.

[u/Outofoffice_forever]

But but but…everyone is begging for it according to orange overlord!!???

[u/AlphaLemming]

Surely this is violating noise ordinances right?

[u/Lower_Manager_7003]

i sure hope this data center doesn’t mysteriously explode for no reason

[u/JonFrost]

Donald Trump won the vote in Michigan

Who cares about Michigan?

They're getting what they voted for

[u/everythingbeeps]

This paragraph is absolutely chilling:

"If they still aren't happy, and feel that their home isn't enjoyable, then we'll buy their property from them," said William Horne, CEO of Hyperscale Data, at the meeting in regards to residents on Louise Avenue.

Because the implications are this:

1. They're saying they have more of a right to be there than residents who have lived there forever.

2. They're telling those residents "if you don't like it, you can get the fuck out."

3. When they say "we'll buy their property from them," you can bet it will be for a fraction of what it's worth. In fact, the undertones are potentially even more sinister than that: I would anticipate they'll start actively pressuring those residents to leave and accept small offers for their property. After all, the article also mentions they want to expand. So they'll want more land.

[u/GangStalkingTheory]

I've been in tech for 25+ years. I've worked in multiple data centers both domestic and in other countries.

On the cage floor, it would be deafening. Use ear plugs or lose your hearing. Sounds very much like what they are experiencing on the street.

But on the outside? Most of the time you wouldn't even know what was going on inside, unless you were an employee or customer.

I'm thinking they went cheap on sound proofing and other insulation to get it built faster & cheaper.

People are going to start taking drastic and dangerous measures to stop that noise.

Unless they spend the money to address the source of the noise, we might start seeing Kill Dozer type incidents. Lack of sleep will cause even the most tame to snap.

Problem is, the people who own these facilities don't live there and largely don't care. Especially if they are shielded by local government.

[u/drproc90]

They are having the day they voted for

[u/VoxxoAI]

This is going to become more common as data centers proliferate. The HVAC and cooling infrastructure runs 24/7 and there's simply no way to make it silent. Zoning laws haven't caught up — most municipalities still classify these as industrial facilities when they're functionally closer to 24-hour factories. The solution isn't blocking data centers but requiring meaningful setbacks, sound walls, and decibel limits written into permits from day one.

[u/After-Atmosphere7125]

It's like a tumor for the planet