The continuous loud sound can be highly distracting, and working within our home office can be untenable. This constant low hum often has contributed to headaches, including migraines, and interrupted sleep over a sustained period. Adequate and uninterrupted sleep is an important priority for everyone. In addition, the constant noise and hum during specific periods have made our backyards intolerable. Our neighborhood provided specific sound readings and raised numerous concerns, which contributed to more stringent guidelines for future data centers in Aurora, Illinois. Unfortunately, the current data centers do not have to abide by these guidelines. Please refer to the link below for specific information.

https://www.aurora.il.us/Property-Business/Zoning-and-Planning/New-Data-Center-and-Warehouse-Regulations

Remediation

The data center has heard our concerns and is currently installing sound wails, sound-dampening boxes to cover the chillers, landscaping, and other on-site generators to reduce noise during testing phases. They have agreed to further adjustments to generator testing procedures. Examples include testing during daytime hours, shortened testing intervals, and testing two generators at a time. They have also installed sound-measuring equipment at their property line. These fixes have occurred after the data center was completed, at least one year later. Future data centers have already had these sound mitigation elements included during the building phases. It's important to note that future data centers are already making changes to reduce some of these negative impacts. Initially, the data centers in Aurora only had to follow the less strict guidelines aligned to warehouses.