Data Center Power Plants Face Community Opposition Over Noise and Health Concerns
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Summary
The article discusses the growing opposition to data centers that generate their own electricity through on-site power plants. While this approach may ease some public acceptance issues for data centers, it creates new problems including noise pollution, health concerns, and community resistance. The piece highlights a specific case in Virginia's Pittsylvania County where a proposed data center 'megacampus' with a 3,500-megawatt gas-fired power plant was voted down after Harvard researchers predicted it could cause over $31 million in annual healthcare costs. The article examines the tension between technology companies' need for reliable power and local communities' concerns about environmental and health impacts.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledLocal opposition to the project grew after researchers from Harvard University used computer modeling to predict that the power plant could result in more than $31 million in annual health care related costs.
Getting data centers to generate their own electricity may ease one obstacle to public acceptance of data centers. But it creates new hurdles.
The pop-up power plants may be popular with technology companies, but plans for installing them have stirred opposition in some communities.
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