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Not Just Paris: Community Activists Target Data Centers (datacenterfrontier.com)
1sockchuck writes: This week's case in which a Paris data center lost its license isn't an isolated incident, but the latest in a series of disputes in which community groups have fought data center projects, citing objections to generators or power lines. Data center site selection is often a secretive process, with cloud builders using codenames to cloak their identity. Community groups are using social media, blogs, research and media outreach to bring public attention to the process and voice their concerns. Protests from a Delaware group led to the cancellation of a data center project that planned to build a cogeneration plant. In Virginia, a coalition has organized to oppose a power line for an Amazon Web Services data center. Everyone wants their Internet, just not in their backyard.
That seems like a set of requirements that would mostly encourage construction out in the sticks, where concerned neighbors are going to be few and moderately distant.
I for one don't want to live in the middle of Siberia just to have free cooling and cheap terrain. I may be a sysadmin, but I also like going to the movies, meeting friends and having a life.
There are good reasons to build them in populated areas, it's just care needs to be taken in terms of their design and their impact on neighbors. We're not talking Nuclear Power plants here, we're looking at something whose only externalities would normally be back-up power and the repercussions of back-up power (today that means fuel and noisy generators that need regular testing)
I'm inclined to think the industry is failing the rest of us here. We ought to be able to reduce the noise made by generators, but we don't care because... why?
If the industry refuses to address noise, then yes, it deserves to find itself forced to avail itself of the benefits of operating near civilization. That means less availability of qualified personnel and more expensive infrastructure. But, for crying out loud, can't we just turn down the noise?
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
In other words, they are using data centers in someone else's backyard. I find the hypocrisy of an activist is often proportional to their level of outrage.
Remember those things called "malls". Well, the stores in them seem to be disappearing at an incredible rate (with good reason) and it's left as a hollow shell that was once a prosperous part of town. Seems like the stores in old malls would be perfect for a datacenter, no?
I know the tone of this post is "look at these crazy luddites", but at least in the case of the Virginia group, it looks like all they are asking is the lines be run through existing rights of way such as rail lines or highways, rather than through residential neighborhoods. I don't think that sounds all that crazy, especially considering the negative impact high tension lines have on nearby property.
I live 4 minutes drive from an "unpopulated area". There are only offices shops and light industry (and a small datacenter), and it is not a nuisance for anybody.
"Unpopulated" does not mean it needs to be in the middle of Sahara. It is just that there is a fair distance between the industry and where people live.