doubledog said:

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Hank the Grifter said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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The water use thing has been overblown. The energy use is a different matter. The thing is that a lot of these data centers want to have their energy use behind the meter. But it's going to take permitting reform by Congress to get it done. And the issue with that is neither party wants to do something where if they do it, the other side comes out of it looking good as well. So everyone loses with higher utility bills. Yay Congress.

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Can you expand on the water usage concern being overblown? I'm asking sincerely. Because that's the number one issue I see raised with these things. Especially in areas where water scarcity is already a concern.

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Closed loop chilled water cooling systems consume very little water, however they do consume a lot of energy.

https://blog.vantage-dc.com/2026/04/22/cooling-without-the-drain-how-closed-loop-systems-cut-day-to-day-water-use/

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Closed loop systems use water cooled centrifugal chillers which use forced draft cooling towers which use a ton of water. Not many data centers are using air cooled chillers (which use way more energy overall than water cooled centrifugals).

I was at the Trane plant last summer and they were filling orders for 20+ 2,500 Ton machines for a single customer. They aren't using close loop hot side cooling systems for those chillers.

84AGEC said:

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Greenies are mysterious quiet over this.

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Because they have been told to zip it.

I don't like when the data centers can sell power to the grid at exorbitant prices (and profits).

Plus I don't want one by my house either

Hubert J. Farnsworth said:

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Water is a concern, but I see them more as eye sores. There is a couple of them going up, in the county where I live, on pieces of property that were pretty nice. The other concern is the talk that many of these data centers will be obsolete by the time they are built.

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Most folks in the cities are able to successfully defeat these before they even pop up. But, if not, and they fall apart after 5 years, we can just turn it into a big ass Spirit Halloween.

HTownAg98 said:

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Loudon County, Virginia has the highest concentration of data centers in the United States. Last I checked, it was pretty blue. But I can see certain blue pockets in the country trying to keep them out.

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Most blue states have e doubled down on stupid green energy. They probably will have a real hard time providing on demand energy.

Maine passed an 18 month moratorium on data centers this month. First state to do so but there are several other states in the wings who are considering it. So, the greenies are highly plugged into this issue already.

With the closed loop water systems, it sounds like ongoing water usage could be largely solved but I read a WSJ report this week that 61% of the country is in drought conditions. Texas is hard ass hit in the south as everyone already knows so putting them down here would be stupid, frankly. We will run out of water before we run out of electricity.

I just don't see how we don't pivot to nuclear if we are forced into a MAD data center scenario with China, and we already have been which is why the sudden rush to build these in the last year.

It's a catch 22 in that regard. We either put our existing infrastructure in mortal danger trying to keep up with China, or we suck it up and finally fast track next generation nuclear.

They are the new "pipelines". Same activist and alarmists that freak out over pipelines and in anti energy in general. Same people, new boogeyman and cause

Build your data center in space or gtfo

TX04Aggie said:

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They are the new "pipelines". Same activist and alarmists that freak out over pipelines and in anti energy in general. Same people, new boogeyman and cause

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Except that it uses existing electrical infrastructure which has not been upgraded or hardened to support it.

Still going in in Texas. 8 slated for my county to go along with the 4-6 they already have.

No slow down here unless you catch it early but landowners can't be dictated to on who they sell land to so data centers largely go unnoticed until groundbreaking.

Taking all of our water and electricity, but have you seen the benefits?

If you think AI film can’t be art then explain this. pic.twitter.com/vG5VUMGJjd

— Charles Curran (@charliebcurran) March 19, 2026

Lots of behind the meter and new IPP projects in the works too which will help mitigate some of the power fears.

Like most issues of this sort, I think it all comes down to NIMBY.

The other major complaint I hear is the noise the data centers produce. Something like a constant 90 decibels even hundreds of yards away.

Thunderstruck xx said:

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The other major complaint I hear is the noise the data centers produce. Something like a constant 90 decibels even hundreds of yards away.

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I take it that is 24/7? We live close enough to a train track in a rural area we can hear the train blow their horn for unautomated train stoppings but even those end around 10 PM and earliest is about 7 AM. Worse when we have the windows open of course.

Folks always assume it's drinking water. It's not.

Potable water is preferred for cooling .

Also water usage is extremely small compared to overall water usage. The demand is growing

So the concern is real but the framing is bad.

aggiehawg said:

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Thunderstruck xx said:

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The other major complaint I hear is the noise the data centers produce. Something like a constant 90 decibels even hundreds of yards away.

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I take it that is 24/7? We live close enough to a train track in a rural area we can hear the train blow their horn for unautomated train stoppings but even those end around 10 PM and earliest is about 7 AM. Worse when we have the windows open of course.

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Yes, 24/7.

HTownAg98 said:

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The water use thing has been overblown. The energy use is a different matter. The thing is that a lot of these data centers want to have their energy use behind the meter. But it's going to take permitting reform by Congress to get it done. And the issue with that is neither party wants to do something where if they do it, the other side comes out of it looking good as well. So everyone loses with higher utility bills. Yay Congress.

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This is the answer.

It's a necessary inconvenience because there's no way we power AI without them, and staying in the driver's seat there is a national security concern. The load on the grid will hurt but that should just drive more growth in energy efficiency/production elsewhere.

TexAgs91 said:

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Build your data center in space or gtfo

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Microsoft already tried underwater 10 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natick

aggiehawg said:

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Thunderstruck xx said:

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The other major complaint I hear is the noise the data centers produce. Something like a constant 90 decibels even hundreds of yards away.

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I take it that is 24/7? We live close enough to a train track in a rural area we can hear the train blow their horn for unautomated train stoppings but even those end around 10 PM and earliest is about 7 AM. Worse when we have the windows open of course.

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I went to Texas A&M in wait for it... College Station.

I only heard the train the first few nights my fish year in Dorm 11.

Lotta good arable land is used to put up solar farms to power those things. 1000's of acres.

Somebody else posted earlier about how powerful hungry new GPUs are.

This week, I noticed the server rack I was working in had 42 x 1100W power supplies in it.

Typical server rack is about 19 inches wide and 36 inches deep.

I've seen data centers that were several acres in size.

But, I've never seen a gargantuan data center built next to a residential area. The big ones always have some standoff area around them.

Reno Hightower said:

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Lotta good arable land is used to put up solar farms to power those things. 1000's of acres.

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A lot of good arable land sits dormant because there is no money in farming too.

There's a gigantic Google facility that's been under construction for 3+ years next to a residential neighborhood in Gilbert, Arizona.

Thunderstruck xx said:

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The other major complaint I hear is the noise the data centers produce. Something like a constant 90 decibels even hundreds of yards away.

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I don't think it's anywhere near that high. Inside when you're on the floor it's constant and loud; outside, it's not anywhere near that loud. I can believe a constant 90 decibels when you're inside, not outside, just based on personal experience.

HTownAg98 said:

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Most newer systems are moving to closed loop systems or recycling non-potable wastewater for cooling needs. So while the water usage problem is an issue with older systems, it's not so much with newer ones.

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I have a great idea.

They could put hog barns next to it and use the lagoon for cooling liquids.

kb2001 said:

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Thunderstruck xx said:

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The other major complaint I hear is the noise the data centers produce. Something like a constant 90 decibels even hundreds of yards away.

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I don't think it's anywhere near that high. Inside when you're on the floor it's constant and loud; outside, it's not anywhere near that loud. I can believe a constant 90 decibels when you're inside, not outside, just based on personal experience.

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A chiller plant inside is around 90 Decibels so I would think that would be the loudest element.

Even if the data center is loud inside the walls are going to be insulated so you are hearing it outside.

My wife is a greenie, she is also heavily involved with data center construction. Now the only green she likes is the kind that comes from their construction. Capitalism baby!!

The people in Hood County are losing their minds over this. Yuge data center outside one of the biggest developments in the county are causing people and pets lots of issues.

You must live in the city where these aren't being built. Us country folks don't want them.

HollywoodBQ said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Thunderstruck xx said:

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The other major complaint I hear is the noise the data centers produce. Something like a constant 90 decibels even hundreds of yards away.

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I take it that is 24/7? We live close enough to a train track in a rural area we can hear the train blow their horn for unautomated train stoppings but even those end around 10 PM and earliest is about 7 AM. Worse when we have the windows open of course.

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I went to Texas A&M in wait for it... College Station.

I only heard the train the first few nights my fish year in Dorm 11.

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I was in dorm 11 as well and really don't recall the train that often. I heard it but probably I was tired as hell. lol.

Jbob04 said:

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You must live in the city where these aren't being built. Us country folks don't want them.

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This we don't. But you also can't dictate who your neighbor sells to so that's the other side of the coin. They put these literally a few hundred feet from residential locations and full blown neighborhoods. I'm not sure if I like 1000 homes or one big data center. Both options suck a lot.

The problem we are seeing in west Texas is that the infrastructure in rural counties is not adequate for the large influx of people and equipment moving in to construct these data centers. Haskell had been overrun, with as many construction workers as residents it seems like. Rural counties can't handle a doubling of the population in a few months.

Housing is also a concern, rent prices have gone through the roof. That creates a ripple effect in neighboring counties with an increase in displaced residents and construction workers willing to drive a bit farther to save money on rent.

Then there is the increased crime rate that usually follows these crews. When we had our first round of wind farms built about 10 years ago, sex crimes in our county spiked. Now they are talking about building a 4000 unit man camp close to Lake Stamford, and the sheriffs departments are very worried about an increase in sec trafficking in our area

So with zoning restictions, regulations that would force closed loop cooling, and requirements to self supply power....how are these things any worse than a pulp mill or a refinery?