Data centers may be inevitable, but state and local resistance is growing
People in the U.S. may be in favor of the using internet, social media, and artificial intelligence, but they are increasingly skeptical of and concerned about the data centers that make all these things possible. Common themes of their skepticism were recently expressed by data center opponents in Michigan who “fear lost farmland and destroyed habitat, noise pollution from thousands of humming servers, strain on the electric grid and higher bills as utilities spend mightily on infrastructure to power the facilities, and strain on rivers and aquifers amid data centers’ use of water to cool servers.” Michiganders are not alone.