It is entirely possible to construct a data center that is as quiet as a standard office building. Doing so requires aggressive noise mitigation techniques. [1, 2, 3] To achieve an office-level noise profile (\(\sim45-55 \text{ dB}\)), builders must incorporate specialized design and engineering: [1]
Generator Mufflers: Equipping emergency backup diesel generators with hospital-grade sound attenuators and silencers. [1, 2]
Acoustic Enclosures and Barriers: Using upgraded sound-absorptive walls, ceilings, and heavy-duty compressor sound blankets to trap noise at the source. [1]
Oversized Slow-Turning Fans: Using larger fans that can turn at drastically reduced RPMs to move the same amount of air as smaller, louder fans. [1]
Advanced Cooling Systems: Utilizing liquid cooling, immersion cooling, or closed-loop chiller systems instead of traditional loud condenser fans. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Vibration Isolation: Placing spring isolators, tuned mass dampers, and elastomeric mounts beneath heavy machinery to prevent structural sound reverberation. [1]
Data centers can also be built which are no more polluting than a regular office building, if they are co-located near a fossil fuel plant with the latest environmental technology, and a closed loop cooling system. They can even help resolve environmental challenges by using in their cooling system the waste water from the fossil fuel plant after treatment. Co-location makes diesel battery backup for the data center unnecessary.
And it is unnecessary to build it on prime farmland.
Data centers are important as we technologically compete with China and other foreign nations. But we should not let local citizens be hurt in the process. We need to control our local electric grid and make sure data centers are serving us rather than we serving them.