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No Data Centers in Anyone's Backyard

The article examines growing local opposition to data center construction across the U.S., as communities push back against noise, water usage, and strain on energy grids. It highlights how "NIMBY" activism is reshaping where and how tech companies build infrastructure, forcing policy debates over zoning, environmental impact, and community benefits.

Background

- "NIMBY" (Not In My Backyard) describes local opposition to new infrastructure — communities want the benefits of cloud services but resist hosting the data centers that power them. - Data centers are giant warehouses of servers that run the internet: streaming, AI, cloud apps. They guzzle electricity (equal to a small town) and water for cooling, and generate constant noise. - The "hyperscalers" — Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure), Google Cloud — build most of them. Virginia's "Data Center Alley" (Loudoun County) handles ~70% of global internet traffic but faces growing pushback. - AI's explosive growth is driving unprecedented data center construction, putting tech companies in direct conflict with local communities over land, power grids, and environmental impact.

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