It's all those greenie weenies making them more efficient, Lawl... I think they meant after the racing stopped, at night.
As for the noise, I have run it outside on our front porch. Indoors 15 feet away through single pane windows, it's a moderate hum but certainly not a racket, by far. I believe the user manual when it says 68 dB at 20 feet, and the calculator I posted earlier on that says 55 dB at 75 feet, and the engineering book that says to subtract 29 dB through a single pane window.
Amazon and Home Depot reviewers also commented on the noise, said it's not terribly bad. E.g. "The noise level was much quieter than I expected, nice surprise" and "This generator's motor is mounted on ruber doohickies that probably help keep noise down and bolts from shaking off" and "I didn't see it in the description, but the noise level is 67 or 68dB at ~20ft. The only way to go quieter is to get one of the little ~$1000 inverter generators!"
