Almost a year ago, critical equipment issues at the CyrusOne data center in Aurora led to the facility activating its backup generators for days straight.
The noise coming from those backup generators was so loud that nearby neighbors called it “unlivable” and “horrible.” CyrusOne spent the next several months meeting with residents and Aurora city officials, working with the city to reach a legal agreement aimed at addressing the issues, and putting in place both temporary and permanent fixes.
While work is still being done to mitigate other sources of sound, permanent solutions for the generator noise were completed last September. But after another run of the backup generators late last month, some nearby residents say they don’t believe the sound mitigation measures put in place for those generators are having much of an impact.
ComEd, the electric utility, is doing infrastructure work at the CyrusOne data center in Aurora from March 26 to April 7 and from April 23 to May 5, according to CyrusOne’s website. On the first and last day of each work period, the facility is expected to run backup generators — and this was true on March 26.
Brian Castro, who called his house “ground zero” because it is the closest residence to the CyrusOne data center, said the generator noise that day was as loud as it had ever been. It seemed like the sound wall CyrusOne installed didn’t do much, but it is possible the facility was simply running more of the generators than in the past, he said.
In addition to the noise, Castro also reported feeling vibrations he attributed to the backup generators.
The impact of the generators is even more “disturbing” than the constant noise the data center emits every day, around the clock, according to Castro. The constant noise, attributed to the building’s rooftop chillers, has “certainly changed our lives,” he said.
“We had a peaceful, serene and beautiful back yard that has now turned into an ugly and constantly loud disruption of everyday life,” Castro said.
Laura Evans, another nearby resident who has been outspoken about the sound issue, said the noise put off by the data center on March 26 was a bit better than it was a year ago, before the mitigations were put in place, but was still at a level that it was impacting her life. The biggest thing she noticed was that the vibrations weren’t as bad.
She wants to stay away from her home when the generators run, she said, because the noise “drives me insane.”
Paul Jaskowiak, who also lives in the neighborhood, felt similarly to Evans and Castro, saying that there was “no discernible difference” between the sound levels on March 26 and when the generators were run nearly a year ago. In a video he provided, his wife’s Apple Watch showed the sound level reaching above 85 decibels — matching sound levels Evans and Castro independently said they measured on March 26, too.
“Whatever they did isn’t working,” Jaskowiak said of the generator noise mitigations.
He described the noise on March 26 as being like a delivery truck idling right outside his house. He was working from home, he said, and it was loud enough that he got up to go figure out what was going on.
And in addition to the noise on March 26, both Evans and Jaskowiak mentioned being able to smell diesel fumes that they attributed to the generators. Jaskowiak compared it to when he, as a child, walked by idling buses at a Cubs game.
A CyrusOne spokesperson confirmed that the generators are fully enclosed and that sound walls have been fully completed. The company has worked with a third-party acoustical engineer to ensure its noise mitigation design is compliant, the spokesperson said.
“The Aurora campus was originally constructed under the design standards in place at that time,” CyrusOne’s spokesperson said. “Since then, CyrusOne’s engineering standards have evolved, and all new facilities are designed to ensure compliance and compatibility with the surrounding community.”
When all mitigation efforts at the site are complete, CyrusOne will be taking measurements to share with the city of Aurora to demonstrate that the mitigations are performing as designed and meet all requirements, according to the spokesperson. Work to mitigate the sound coming from rooftop chillers is still ongoing.
Plus, CyrusOne’s spokesperson said that the utility work currently being done at the facility will result in long-term improvements that are expected to reduce the need for generator use during future maintenance.
“Every operational decision we make takes into account both the needs of the facility and the well-being of our surrounding community,” the spokesperson said.
Despite the persistent noise issues, Castro said he believes CyrusOne is trying to do what it can to address the issue — a sentiment that has been shared by other residents. But, he isn’t sure that they can do enough.
This just seems to be the way things will be from now on, he said, especially since the city recently passed regulations that apply only to new facilities.
Under the city’s newly-passed rules, future data centers will be held to strict energy efficiency, water efficiency and noise emission standards, plus will be required to produce a number of studies and reports around these issues. Unlike before, the Aurora City Council now has the ability to approve or deny proposed data center developments.
Aurora city staff have attributed efforts to develop new regulations, at least in part, to the activism of the residents living near the CyrusOne facility.
Although the new rules don’t directly address residents’ complaints about the existing data center, the city and CyrusOne have been working together to deal with the ongoing noise issues, which culminated in a legal agreement approved in October.
That agreement sets a timeline for temporary and permanent fixes to be in place and lays out penalties for the company not following the order, including a $40,000 fine that could be lowered.
The city of Aurora sent personnel out to the data center on March 26, but they arrived after the generators had stopped running and so were unable to take any readings, a city spokesperson said.
CyrusOne is well on its way to completing its planned permanent sound mitigation measures across the facility. In addition to the generator-specific mitigations, sound walls have also been installed around rooftop chiller units which residents say put out constant noise that impacts their lives.
The next phase of work, according to CyrusOne’s website, is to install sound attenuators on the chillers themselves. This work is planned to be completed later this year, company officials said at a community meeting in mid-January.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com