infrasounds

Who they live nearby of data centers in the US they are denouncing be being affected by so-called infrasound. These are low-frequency sounds that are below the limits of human hearing but can end up causing dizziness, nausea, vertigo and problems falling asleep. And the worst thing is not that: it is that these data centers comply with current regulations. The invisible enemy. Data centers are becoming recurring focus of criticism of neighbors and residents in areas where they are built. The reasons They are forceful and knownbut to all of them we now add one that is worrying for another reason: it affects our health. Damn infrasound. The new invisible enemy of those affected is low-frequency noise pollution. The problem is that unlike the noise generated by a highway, for example, infrasound is not “heard” with the ears, but is felt with the whole body and can cause anxiety, nausea or chronic insomnia. Hmmmmmm. Infrasound operates at frequencies so low that they fall outside the human hearing spectrum. The problem is that despite this, these sounds can pass through walls and travel hundreds of meters to end up reaching neighbors who live near data centers. For them, what is captured is a kind of constant vibration that cannot be turned off. Infrasound is legal, but it shouldn’t be. The local authorities that receive these complaints cannot do much, because they find themselves in a legal loophole: the current regulations They usually measure noise in decibels (dB), but since these sounds are inaudible, decibel meters mark legal levels while neighbors can develop health problems. Is it a bird? is it a plane? Those responsible for these sounds are usually industrial cooling systems that move gigantic volumes of air to keep the temperatures generated in these computing centers at bay. Not only that: many of these centers try to rely on the electrical grid and avoid supply bottlenecks. To do this, they use natural gas turbines, which are a type of modified jet aircraft engines. The bad thing is that these machines work 24/7, eliminating nighttime silence and condemning residents’ sleep. They should be in the desert. Both the US and Europe have vast expanses of uninhabited land that should be ideal for this type of facility, but hyperscalers prefer to build close to existing infrastructure because that saves them a lot of time and money when it comes to putting these facilities into operation. And what about liquid cooling? Experts point out that a potential solution would be to use liquid cooling solutions, which would significantly reduce fan noise. The problem, again, is that these systems are expensive and do not eliminate the need for the use of electric turbines. More and more projects delayed. This is the latest of the problems that is turning data centers into facilities that are especially hated by residents of the areas where they are installed. Protests are becoming more frequent, and these criticisms are combined with problems of water and energy supply. There are platforms that analyze the moratoriums and delays that these projects are suffering, and currently in the US there are 50 active blockades of projects to build data centers in different regions of the country. In Xataka | If the question is “how does having a data center next to my house affect me”, in the US they already have an answer: 267% more expensive electricity