'It sounds like someone set up a vacuum, like in your living room': Michigan residents sue AI data center emitting noise 24/7 — company fined for industrial noise ordinance violations, offers to buy homes from residents
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Some residents have been there for almost 100 years

Residents of Dowagiac, Michigan, just filed a lawsuit against a data center that allegedly generates a high-pitched whining sound — and has done so 24/7 for the past two years.

The data center, which is owned by Alliance Cloud Services LLC, a subsidiary of Hyperscale Data, used to be an industrial building that sat behind a row of pine trees across the street from the most affected residents, according to ABC-affiliateWXYZ. The site started development in 2018 and was eventually turned into a cryptocurrency mining center in 2021. But in 2024, something changed drastically when the building started emitting noise pollution around the clock. Residents say it sounds like a vacuum cleaner in their living room, and the company has offered to buy up homes from unhappy residents.

  • HeartyOfGlass@piefed.socialEnglish
    16·
    2 days ago

    Why aren’t the datacenter owners ever willing to spend, say, $10 million on making the data center actually quiet instead?

    I think you know the answer to this - $10 mil on soundproofing doesn’t make the Bottom Line go up. The only people they’re trying to please are the folks that profit off the company.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      I think you know the answer to this - $10 mil on soundproofing doesn’t make the Bottom Line go up

      Neither does buying out 10 million worth of houses.

      • HeartyOfGlass@piefed.socialEnglish
        51·
        2 days ago

        I didn’t see anywhere in the article where they say they were going to buy the houses for that amount. Do you have other information?

        'Cause otherwise - those homes have been severely devalued because of that data center. Unless the CEO was feeling generous (ha), those homeowners would be forced to sell for a bottom-of-the-barrel price. And that is much cheaper than litigation.

        • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          didn’t see anywhere in the article where they say they were going to buy the houses for that amount

          No, but it also didn’t say how many houses might be affected.