As more Nebraska communities pass moratoriums on new data center projects in the face of increased scrutiny from locals, the city of Kearney says it hopes to set itself apart by welcoming the industry.

The city of 33,000 has become one of the first in the state to pass a zoning ordinance for data centers, which places restrictions on things like noise, water consumption and energy use – the concerns locals cite most often when a power-hungry computer warehouse comes to town.

A few years ago, I took a friend from Ohio camping up in Valentine, Nebraska, but first we had to drive up through the pretty parts of the state (sorry-not-sorry sub-Sandhill Nebraska, you are flatter than Jim Carry was in The Mask when he was run over like a cartoon). When we came upon a sign that said, "Welcome to Beef County,” my friend from Ohio was covering his face with his shirt in the backseat, retching and coughing from the overpowering odor of a sea of black cattle. 

"Where are we?!” He begged, then answered himself, “In Mordor?!”

When Hurricane Michael tore through the Florida Panhandle in 2018, a beach house called the Sand Palace was left standing, while more than half the buildings around it were destroyed.

Its owners had built it to withstand roughly double the wind speed that Florida’s code required, with reinforced concrete walls on 40-foot (12-meter) pilings. The cost was about 15% to 20% more than standard construction, but the owners wanted a house that could survive storms.