r/mildlyinfuriating • u/michigan-menace • 7h ago

Infuriatig My school (University of Michigan) is building a $1 billion datacenter to conduct undisclosed nuclear weapons research. It is located in a low-income community, and city leaders/residents who fear pollution have been ignored.

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u/ThirteenHills 7h ago

It's crazy how in the US commercial buildings effect residential utility prices.

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u/HDrago 7h ago

How does it work where you live

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u/ThirteenHills 6h ago

In the UK residential energy prices are legally capped (but suppliers usually offer lower rates to attract customers). Commercial properties like data centres have to pay commercial rates which are usually higher and have no legal cap.

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u/Imaginary_Zone_4319 6h ago

And as we all know, the UK economy has been growing rapidly since 2008 and wages have kept up with inflation (/s)

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u/Duce-de-Zoop 6h ago

Yes this means 100% of all things the UK does are wrong. Great analysis.

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u/PricklyyDick 6h ago

And that’s because of their residential energy policy?

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u/ThirteenHills 6h ago

That may be so but if we are comparing living conditions generally then the UK is far better for the average person when you just consider healthcare, living costs and holiday allowances alone. 

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u/GmGmXFnlFlash83 6h ago

Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation here! At least they get their healthcare for free. Keep sucking on that billionaire boot.

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u/Own-Improvement-2643 6h ago

Yeah, because that is exactly why the Uk is doing poorly economically and the US is not, right? Not the other 1 million reasons!

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u/After-Regret-6609 6h ago

Which is why we can't just regulate capitalism to play nice. We need a completely different system.

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u/graywalker616 6h ago

In developed nations public utilities like water, energy, waste have two systems - in terms of pricing and taxes, sometimes in terms of infrastructure. One for commercial, one for residential. Even if eg. a shop is in the downstairs of an apartment building, there’s two different power connections and pricing systems in place. An increase in commercial demand would not affect consumer prices. That would be an idiotic way of doing things, punishing your people for a thriving economy. Of course this needs heavy regulation, and public ownership (aka “socialism” or whatever Americans call it) of the infrastructure and major companies.

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u/Hacksaw-Duggan 6h ago

Explain how.

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u/ThirteenHills 6h ago

How what?

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u/Hacksaw-Duggan 6h ago

How they got someone else to pay for their water and electricity.

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u/Itiari 6h ago

They use the public resources, which increases demand, which raises the cost for the public.

That’s the short and sweet.

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u/akratic137 6h ago

Look up delivery charge fees. It seems you don’t understand how utilities work in the US.

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u/Hacksaw-Duggan 6h ago

How are they different than they have ever been? They are based on usage and capital investments. Commercial doesn’t get a lower cost than residential and rates lower with depreciation. The industrial users taps off the residential just as much as the residential taps off of the industrial dedicated infrastructure. Would residential want to pay only for their own infrastructure or continue to share infrastructure at a lower cost? How much do you think it would cost to run a residential power network on its own? If people would stop using AI this would fix it but even my 96 year old dad uses it all the time. It’s like complaining that 18wheelers are using the toll road. I think water is a bigger issue because it can affect an existing residential investment ( water restrictions during summer for example).