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Comment by lemonlime227 | Hacker News Reader

Ashburn/Loudoun resident here, lived right next to us-east-1 for 10+ years. No, the noise is not impactful. The data centers are very quiet on the outside. More noise comes from Dulles Airport nearby. Main problem is 1. visuals. They are horrendous blobs to look at. 2. land/electricity values. Gone up a lot in the past few years. Happy to answer any questions.

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Your noise statement is one datapoint, there are others in the article. Who's right regarding the noise?

Well noise drops off following an inverse square law, so possibly everyone. Moving down just a couple houses can significantly cut down on noise pollution.

The direction of wind and shape of terrain has a huge effect on noise, too. If a noise source is down wind of you the gradient in wind speed wrt elevation effectively makes the noise curve upwards, and even very loud things can sometimes be inaudible at ground level.

Also live near the data centers. While I'm obviously not 100% sure, I think that blue one is on Glenn Dr - for a bit of context, that is less than 3 miles (drive) from the Dulles International Airport. I'll see if I can record a video of the sound later tonight.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B059'57.6%22N+77%C2%...

I agree, my experience is anecdotal. Generally never heard much from Loudoun residents about noise (Loudoun is where most of the N. VA data centers are), it's more of a complaint you hear online from people in other parts of the country that are having data centers built near them. Again, anecdotal.

How's the power bill?

Not great. Gone up a bit recently, but it's just another bill that I've budgeted for.

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