I’m going to go out on a limb here: Nobody is building data centers near wealthy neighborhoods.
Which is why the comparison is based on rate …
Wouldn’t the total number affect accuracy of the rate? I think one chart in the article showed something like 700 proposals for low income areas and 100-200 proposals for high income areas. As N approaches zero, the rate of resistance or cancellation is a lot more sensitive to smaller numbers of events.
Recently proposed data centers that faced pushback were canceled or suspended at more than five times the rate of data centers that didn’t (28.2% vs. 5.2%).
i.e. the data already takes into account that those data centres are more likely to be built in poorer neighbourhoods.
My hypotheses:
- The rich tolerate data centres more because they get more value out of them.
- “AGI soon!” misinformation hits both sides different ways: for one it means “we’re making you richer”, for another it’s “we’re making you obsolete filth”.
No idea if either/both/none is true.
It might also be the kind of data center that is being built. Cheaper data centers are noisier, inefficient with water, etc
Working class areas may already be distrustful towards large companies coming along and using up all of the local resources
Great, they should build them in those neighborhoods.
Even in those neighbourhoods they’re still going to inflate water and electricity prices and consumption.
Not to be a wet blanket, but might that be because data centers are being built in working class neighborhoods at a higher rate than wealthy ones?
Maybe try reading the article before useless speculation on a topic that is clearly outlined in the data provided?
Ok, I’ve read the article and come back. I have the same question. The only statement that tangents my point is this one:
“The lowest-income, least-educated neighborhoods resist most, even among the low-income, low-degree areas facing proposals,” he adds.
But the variable the article cares most about is what happens to data centers that encounter community resistance, vs ones that don’t. Yes they categorize those 2 groups by income level, but there doesn’t seem to be a chart saying “data centers are 5 times more likely to be proposed in low income areas compared to high ones.”
Care to point me in the right direction?
I find this hard to believe. wealthy neighborhoods near me don’t even want warehouses or dense housing.
